Come Back
by smileysoul
Summary: Sanji's convictions have ended up harming the crew more than he ever expected. Zoro can't stand the way the cook seems to slowly lose himself after this. Can he manage to bring him back? (Zosan and rated M for further chapters, just in case)
1. Chapter 1- Rage takes over

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**Chapter 1**

**Rage Takes Over**

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Zoro was standing there, eyes wide open, clutching his swords for dear life, the moment frozen in front of his eyes, almost as if time had stopped to care to tick by.

"You bastard, I'm gonna fucking kill you!" Sanji raged, flying next to him as if possessed, running to kick some ass. Well, not some ass. That bastard's ass.

And as he passed by him, pushing time ahead, everything went back into motion.

The swordsman could no longer take his sweet time to stare as a big powerful sword dragged both his katana and his attention to the hit aiming at his chest. Zoro blocked it just in time, the attack reverberating through his bones. Zoro growled lowly, much like a beast, and forced his enemy to retreat a bunch of steps back so that he could have time to unshield Wadô and get serious as he placed the beloved white sword in his mouth in time to block another blow.

_Focus, _he ordered himself. But there went his eyes. Nami was lying on the floor, coughing something dark, sticky and disgusting. Blood. A flash of blond, and his attention switched again. Sanji kicked his ignited leg against the enemy's weapon, putting all of his strength into making him get away form Nami. He could see a pulsing vein on his neck, his muscles flexing, rage and hatred obscuring his eyes.

Yoong, that was the bastard's name, let out an excited bark of laughter and dodged before letting go of his weapon and charging fists first against the blonde, who fell to his hands and let his legs go wild in a spinning inferno, clashing against Yoong. Their enemy grunted but managed to get a hold of Sanji's leg in mid-air, sacrificing his left side which was left open to the blonde's attack. Despite the killing intent Sanji pur in the kick, Yoong held his ground and forced his weight on the cook, who easily escaped from his grasp and put some space between them, panting.

"I'm gonna shove my foot up your..."

"_Cook!_" Zoro warned, too late.

Sanji felt something slamming against him and then he was violently thrown away only to feel his back crash against what was left of a wall, sending a wave of intense pain down his back. The cook only had time to hiss before a delicate but strong hand squeezed his neck and slammed him against the wall yet again. Sanji held his breath and swallowed his first instinct of kicking around. Only because this other persisting and now unwelcome instinct of his told him to stop and simply not attack because...

"Not you..." he groaned.

Well, because she was a woman.

"Oh, yes, it's me indeed, blondie", a brunette smiled, almost touching his lips with hers.

A cruel and senseless smile sent shivers down his spine, it was _that_ dark. Lust for violence, lust for cruelty, that's all he could see in the beautiful woman's features. And that was really something to say, coming from him.

"Let me go," he begged. It's not like he was going to order a woman around.

He could see Nami laying there, Yoong kneeling next to her and looking intently at him with a smile playing on his lips, teasing, as if saying 'Should I kill her now? Should I make her suffer?', but still waiting, making the moment insufferable. Desperation owned him and he was already struggling, something he would have never done in a woman's hands before. But there he was, fighting back yet not kicking, not being able to hurt her because, _damn it_, he simply _couldn't_ do it.

"_Let me go!_" he roared, sending his gentleman manners to hell. So much for not ordering women around. But he was already damned.

The brunette smiled wider.

"Nope," she answered, amused. Then, not taking her eyes of Sanji's, "What should we do, Yoong? Should we start by ripping her wicked hair out of her head? Strand by strand?"

Yoong smiled behind her and Sanji's mind went wild with panic.

"_Don't you fucking dare touch her!_"

But then Yoong was sent flying, a punch still deforming his face when he hit the ground meters and meters away from the redhead.

"Don't go hurting my nakama!" Luffy hollered, and charged against him.

He didn't even know where Luffy had come from, he was supposed to be fighting elsewhere, but hell if Sanji wasn't happy and relieved that he was _there_, to the point where he was already thinking of how much meat he'd need to cook to repay this. Because he had been utterly useless, he had to remind himself. He hadn't been able to get Nami out of there before Yoong pierced her stomach with his weapon because he was being held down by that unnamed brunette who just kept smiling at him in what could only be described as an evil way. He hadn't been able to kick or push her away, he had only been able to desperately watch as his beloved Nami fell to the ground screaming. He himself had screamed at the top of his lungs, making his throat go numb. And then he had found an opening, had run away from his captor and had tried to defend Nami from a second attack just to be dragged back by the woman that was now squeezing the air out of his lungs, leaving marks on his neck.

And he still couldn't do a damn thing.

_Useless_, he thought of himself. _A fucking disappointment_.

Despite the looming dread, as Nami was now in good hands, he felt himself relax a little, fixing his eyes on the brunette's ones with a less of a panicked manner.

"Damn useless Yoong," she was muttering, imprinting her anger in her hold, which was tighter and tighter around his neck. He choked a bit.

"You're evil," Sanji managed to get out of his mouth as he was being strangled, not even struggling anymore.

There wasn't a point to it.

Nami didn't need him now, so he didn't need to go against his nature anymore. He hadn't been able to when it had _truly_ mattered and Nami's life had been on the line, so he most definitely didn't have the right to do so now when it was only his life he had to worry about. He wouldn't kick a woman, not even to save his own life. And he had already failed the redhead. If that was what he had to face for not being able to protect his beloved ones, then so be it. He had always known that if he ever died fighting it'd be against a woman he wouldn't even have fought back. The thought made him smile at the irony. He could already picture the moss-head laughing in front of his grave for being too damn weak and the biggest idiot ever. Mocking him even when already dead. If he even bothered visiting his grave, that is. Not that he would. The guy hated his guts just as much as he hated his_ and why the fuck was he even thinking about the damn marimo during his last breath_?! He rushed his already numb and oxygenless mind to think about beaches and ladies and tiny swimsuits but then he heard the annoying voice.

"What the fuck are you doing cook?! _Defend yourself_!"

Sanji almost barked a laugh. Well, he would have if there had been any air left in his lungs. His vision went blurry. Damn it. Definitely not the last voice he wanted to hear.

Zoro retreated and launched again against his own enemy with a snarl on his face.

What was the cook doing? Did he want to get himself killed or what? But he already knew no fighting back was going to happen. It was a woman after all. The one who had been fighting Nami before seeing through the cook and switching places with Yoong. And now that same woman had him pinned against a wall, strangling him to death... If he wasn't already dead. Sanji hadn't been moving much for a while... Oh, _no way_ in hell was he gonna let that idiotic bastard die like this!

He already felt the anger towards the blond rising in his chest, he already felt the fire and the raging urge to punch him in the face. He was definitely not letting the blond die until he had his fist introduced to Sanji's curly and stupid face and vice versa. He wondered if he could make his nose as curly as his freaking brows. A stupid thought to have when facing your own enemy and living under the uncertainty of two of your nakama making it out of this one alive or not. Fuck.

And then he was cutting through flesh and bones and running past the already defeated enemy, who didn't even see him coming and fell with a shocked expression on his face. And he was almost there, and he could already see the light leaving the cook's eyes, and all he could think about was what an idiot Sanji was and how angry he was at him. So fucking angry he didn't even put his brain to work when his sword went through the brunnette's chest from her back and stopped inches away from Sanji's.

Sanji could only see black. Suddenly, the strain in his neck lightened as he felt a soft hand slip down to his chest and then fall down. He swore he had heard a bloody and sticky cough but, then again, he couldn't really tell. He tried to give himself the instruction to breathe, but he didn't manage to get air into his lungs and gagged and whinced. Then there were glimpses of green flashing irregularly in the blackness of what was his current inexistent vision. Oh, man, he knew that particular annoying green. And he also knew the voice. By heart.

"Oi, shit-cook! You better fucking _breathe_ or I'm gonna fucking kick the air into your motherfucking lungs and shove it down your nostrils!"

Sanji felt like laughing. What the hell was that? That was rude and unnecessarily packed with swear words, even for Zoro, and it sounded stupid and absolutely ridiculous. But then he felt a strong hand laying flat on his chest and slamming him to the wall with brutal force, making something click inside him. He abruptly started to cough, the air filling his lungs like punches and waves altogether.

Zoro let go of him and struggled to loosen his tie with unsteady hands, giving the cook room to breathe in and out. The cook's gaze started to drift from far away to reality, and Zoro knew he had him back. He released a breath he didn't even know he was holding, and the fact that he felt relieved only increased the angry rage inside him in turn. He had never wanted to kick somebody's ass so bad and he wasn't even the one in charge of the badass kicking in their crew.

"You're an idiot," he muttered, barely restrained.

Sanji was still coughing, all red and needy for oxygen, batting Zoro's hands away and getting rid of the tie Zoro had started to loosen. Zoro felt his temper worsen. He didn't even bother to ask himself why.

"_You're a fucking idiot!_" he declared again, this time yelling with broken rage, completely uncontroled. "I'm gonna seriously kill you, you bastard!"

"Shut up," Sanji snapped, partly regaining his composture. "Damn moss-head. As if you could."

Zoro was about to reply and let hell break loose when Sanji swept a startled look around him and desperation wiped his features, effectively shutting Zoro up as confusion took over rage.

"What?"

"Nami?" the cook half asked. Then he saw her and stood up but Zoro held him down by his wrist.

"Chopper will kick your ass and tell you to go away," he warned in a calmer tone that tried to soothe Sanji's reeling mind.

Sanji then noticed that Chopper was already treating Nami, running around her, poking, frowning and deciding what to do next while trying not to freak out himself. Zoro had just realized the reindeer was there as well, therefore the delayed warning, and they both knew Nami was Chopper's right now. Yet...

"I don't give fuck," Sanji snatched his arm from Zoro's hold and headed to where the readhead was restraining her tears and bracing herself in a fetal position.

He saw her face bathed in traitorous wetness, all bloody and sweaty, black bags already forming under her eyes, and he felt something heavy drop inside him.

He hadn't protected her. He hadn't been enough to protect her.

_Useless._

"Nami, my dear..." he whispered, astonished and overwhelmed, not knowing what to do for the first time in years.

"Sanji, please go away. I need space to work with," Chopper commanded, sounding professional and calm. But their doctor was trembling. The wound was serious, he could see it in the reindeer's face.

"But Chopper..."

"Mhmm?"

"Will she... Will she be okay?" he asked. He sounded like a little strangled birdie. And he totally felt like one.

Chopper didn't say anything and resumed his work, the silence falling over him like a sharp kitchen knife piercing his chest. Sanji's shoulders fell and after realising his mind was blank and that he was actually doing nothing useful, he took some steps away, unsteady, trembling, weak. At one point he forced himself to turn his back to them in order to go and do his goddamn job: get more enemies he could kick the asses of, which was what pretty much everyone in the crew was doing as he stood there like a statue. Useless. Just when he lost sight of the wounded redhead, he heard Chopper's voice.

"It's not your fault."

Something strained his heart so bad it hurt. It hurt _so_ much. He fought away a weird wetness in his eyes he was no longer familiarised with and headed to where he thought he'd find a good oponent he could pour his anguish on.

Zoro watched the blond's back walk away, the fury inside him only being fueled with every step the cook took. He couldn't stand him. He couldn't stand how the idiot had let himself almost be murdered by someone just because she had tits and a nice face. He couldn't stand how he assumed it was his responsibility to protect all the ladies around him when they could actually fight for themselves. He couldn't stand how his eyes had looked lost and empty when he had approached Nami with only guilt and shame reflecting in his face. He couldn't stand how his shoulders seemed to fall to the ground, his pose no longer proud and straight and badass, but defeated and tortured instead. Zoro wanted to cut something. He _needed_ to cut something before he'd cut the cook's head off his shoulders in his rage.

A far away cry told him that Usopp was having trouble with his opponent (which would turn out to be a horde of trained assassins mounted in wicked carnivorous horses when he'd tell the story later on while praising himself for being such a brave warrior and, oh, weren't they lucky to have him in the crew!) and Zoro finally moved from his spot, practically dragging his body, willing to help if that meant he could do some harm and let himself go for a while.

**TBC**


	2. Chapter 2 - Forgive Me

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**Chapter 2**

**Forgive Me**

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Nami opened her eyes to see the infirmary's ceiling, blurry and unfocused. A wave of pain shot her where she knew a sharp weapon had pierced her body.

Ugh, damn it, she had been too slow and didn't react in time even though she had seen it coming. She told herself that she should be more careful from now on, and then took a moment to let the fact that she was still alive sink in. She had honestly assumed she was done for. She had heard Sanji cry her name with a desperate hoarse and broken voice, had seen a glimpse of Zoro freezing where he was, his own enemy launching an attack on him, had heard Chopper cry and run around her, had seen Luffy destroy Yoong while yelling like a mad man just like he always did when he got really pissed off.

The redhead forced herself to overcome the sharp pain and sat up straight. Were the others alright? Then she caught the sight of Robin sitting on a chair next to her bed, eyes shut. She looked like she was sleeping, but Nami knew better. At the very most, she was half asleep. It's not like the brunette would keep her company and let herself fall asleep, not while she was keeping an eye on her.

"Robin?" she squeaked.

The archaeologist snapped her eyes open and looked at her, surprised and then calm again, her lovely half drawn smile lighting her features up.

"Nami," she nodded in a greeting. "How are you feeling?"

"Quite bad, actually," Nami managed to answer with a light humorous smile. She had learned the humorous way to face hard times in that crew. "But hey, I'm alive."

"Our doctor did a good job, you'll be fine in his hands."

"Never doubted it. Not even for a minute,"Nami agreed. Once in his professional hands, or should she say hoofs, she had been sure the reindeer would do anything to get her back in good shape.

A thought crossed her muddled mind and worry overtook her.

"Robin..."

"Sanji is blaming himself," the older woman announced before she could ask, apparently reading her mind. "We've all insisted it's not his fault but I think he's pretty much torturing himself over it. He told me to call him when you woke up, he's probably going to make a fuss out of it. Be ready to receive all the flowers he can gather and find apologizing love letters everywhere in the ship."

Nami snorted, shaking her head.

"Thought so. But it's really not his fault."

"Make sure you tell him and he'll probably feel better about it," Robin suggested, helpful as always. "I'm going to get Chopper so he can check on you. Then I'll call Sanji and the rest."

"Thanks, Robin."

"I'm glad you're fine," Robin added with an unexpected streak of sincere concern and relief. "You had all of us worried here."

She smiled at her and Nami smiled back, weakly, before letting herself rest again in bed, waiting for the doctor to come.

* * *

"Cook. Booze."

Sanji heard the door of the galley creak and wrinkled his nose in distaste at the annoying voice at his back. He heard the moss head's steps reaching the place he had the sake stored in, no surprise there, that was predictable. Before Zoro could react he had a foot slammed against the door the swordsman had intended to open, effectively blocking his way before he could sack their supplies.

"Oh. Look. Little Marimo here managed to read my mind," Sanji mocked, showing a pissed-off half smirk.

"What."

Zoro looked at him, both annoyed and unimpressed, but he stayed in place.

"Come here," the cook motioned. "I was actually looking for you. Good timing."

The swordsman looked at the place he knew he'd find his precious booze, now marked with a dent on the door, courtesy of Blackleg Sanji. Then he fixed his suspicious stare on the cook, who was heading towards the kitchen counter with his hands in his pockets.

"Booze," he insisted flatly, not one to give up.

"If you don't want my foot shoved up your ass you better come here just about fucking _right now_."

Zoro rolled his eyes at Sanji's usual rudeness and surprisingly did as he was told, keeping the distance, wary, hoping that if he behaved he'd have his booze as a reward. Sometimes it worked with Sanji. Only sometimes.

"So?"

A plate full of onigiri was slammed on the countertop right in front of him. If it hadn't been Zoro, he would have probably been startled at the sudden aggressive gesture. One he sure as hell wasn't expecting. A kick in the face was always a possibility when it came to his interactions with the cook, but a plate of food being shoved at him out of the scheduled times was a first.

"What's this?" he managed to ask in between his slight surprise.

"Can't you tell? Do you need a sketch, maybe a beautiful drawing explaining it? It's called food. You're supposed to put it in your mouth, chew and then..."

"What for?" Zoro interrupted him with a suspicious glare. Now he was officially alert and waiting for the trick Sanji would pull out of his sleeve any time.

The cook snorted and leaned against the counter, lighting a cigarette and letting the smoke fill his lungs. Suddenly he looked uncomfortable and out of place, his eyes wandering somewhere else as he seemed to look for the right words.

"You saved my ass back there," he muttered, visibly annoyed and embarrassed that he had to admit it out loud. Zoro was surprised that the blond wasn't kicking his head while talking. "_Mywaytothankyou,bastard_," he rushed.

And then he shut up and turned his back to him as if there had never been a conversation going on between them.

Zoro blinked once, twice, now three times.

"You got a fucking fever or something?" he asked, not quite getting the picture. The idea of the cook thanking him was a joke, what the hell was up with him? Cussing-annoying-insufferably-loud Sanji he could deal with, but _grateful-and-showing-it_ Sanji? Had the world gone nuts? How was he supposed to react now? There was something called patterns and traditions and _routine_ in this life, an utterly useful set of assets to make life easier and less of a train wreck: hadn't Sanji heard of that before growing a second personality Zoro didn't know how to deal with?

"You wanna eat this or do I directly shove it down Luffy's mouth?" Sanji threatened, sounding really, really, _really_ pissed off. "At least he'll appreciate my divine cooking, nothing I expect a caveman like you to do. I don't even know why I bothered-"

"Fine, fine! Stop bitching, I'm eating it, damn it!" Zoro barked, possessively protecting his treat when Sanji tried to snatch it away from him. "Sissy moody shit-cook..."

"And what the fuck was that, you fucking asshole!" Sanji roared, ready for a fight.

Zoro would have had to unshield at least two of his swords right there and then to defend himself from the raging blonde if Robin hadn't walked into the room at that very same moment. Sanji's features instantly softened in front of Zoro's eyes, his shoulders falling again, his eyes apprehensive and dead worried. How he could switch from a raging inferno to a vulnerable guilty-looking defeated man Zoro couldn't understand, but damn if that simple gesture didn't make the swordsman want to punch Sanji in the face with everything he had to bring him back to normal.

"Robin, is she..." Sanji babbled, his voice unsure and oh so guilty.

Robin smiled a cheerful smile and nodded.

"She's awake and she is fine, Sanji. Chopper is now taking a look at her. You can go there and wait until he finishes, she wants to see you."

Sanji let out a shaky breath he never realised he was holding and relief bathed his worried features, setting them at relative peace.

"Thank you, Robin, my dear," he bowed, a weak but polite smile on his face.

Then he rushed out of the galley letting Robin affectionately pat his shoulder, for which he dedicated her a string of adoration claims and flirtatious remarks which no longer had the force and passion they used to. That made Robin frown as soon as he was gone. A worried look appeared in her eyes as she realized the cook was really not being himself, at least not at full. It was starting to get worrying. He had been acting like this since Nami had gotten hurt.

The woman turned to face Zoro, who was frowning while stuffing his mouth with onigiri, refusing to let his gaze wander to any place that wasn't the ever so interesting countertop. Well, if the swordsman wasn't truly pissed off.

"Did our cook prepare these for you?" she asked out of curiosity.

Zoro nodded without looking at her.

"Weird indeed," she commented to herself, knowing she'd have more luck trying to start a conversation with a rock than with the swordsman.

When she was about to get out of the galley to announce the good news to their captain, she changed her mind and turned to Zoro yet again. Trying was never a waste of time.

"Sanji's not being himself," she stated.

Zoro snorted.

"Oh, really?"

"He's feeling guilty for what happened to Nami."

The green-haired man finally lifted his gaze and fixed his eye on her. Oh, yes, no mistaking it now, Robin thought. He was angry as hell.

"I know."

Robin nodded and finally left, leaving the swordsman alone while he finished eating the onigiri which, he had to admit, were edible. Edible? What the fuck, they were the best onigiri he had ever shoved into his mouth! Not that he would ever admit it out loud, though.

* * *

"Sanji, I told you to get out!" Chopper screeched, fighting against the hand Sanji held against his face, keeping him at bay.

"Just a minute Chopper, please."

"No! I am doing my job and I told you-"

"Nami, how are you feeling?"

Nami smiled, pale and tired but still half laughing at the scene.

"Not at my best but I'm fine, Sanji," she said in a reassuring tone.

Sanji gulped, trying to get the words out of his throat while despising himself for letting this kind of situation, where he would have to apologise to a woman for not being able to protect her, happen.

"Nami, I..."

"Okay, you wait a minute there," Nami stopped him holding a hand in the air, frowning and defying. "I'm warning you, I'm gonna increase your debts a 10% every time I happen to hear "sorry" go out of your mouth until you become even more indebted than Zoro, and that is something to say, believe me."

"But Nami..."

"I don't want to hear it," she sentenced, glaring at him to tell him it was an order. "It's not your fault, it never was, and if I happen to see you sulking and feeling sorry because of this, not only will I actively work on increasing you debts until Zoro's are a joke compared to yours, but I will also kick you in the mouth. With my high heels. Is that clear enough?"

"Nami is scary~" Chopper cried out, backing off and finally letting Sanji have some personal space.

Sanji let a hand slip through his hair, feeling frustrated as ever, trying to make her understand but knowing that being the lovely angel she was she wouldn't let him blame himself for it, even though that was the only thing he _could_ do. No looking away this time, no escaping his mistakes. He never had and wouldn't start doing it now.

"Nami, listen to me just for a minute... please?" he begged. When she sealed her lips, giving him time to formulate his thoughts, he went for it, rushing before she changed her mind. "Let me say it just one time. Just once. I need it, I really do, so _please_, I'm begging you, let me at least apologize this one time. It's the least I can do."

Nami let her eyes explore the blond's visible blue one and her chest tightened when she saw he was wrecked.

"If it makes you feel better, go ahead," she conceded. But then held a finger in the air. "Just once."

Sanji nodded and felt a knot in his throat. Then kneeled and bowed his head, pride forgotten.

"I am sorry, Nami. I really am. I can't stand that I couldn't protect you, that I couldn't do anything because I am too weak and couldn't get that woman off me, not even for you. I hate and despise myself for it and I keep wondering what kind of man I am that I let you get hurt like that... And I hate this situation and I hate to see you hurting this bad," he let out in a hushed, pained and embarrassed voice. "So, sorry. I really am. I really mean it. Will you forgive me?"

Nami sighted and pinched his nose for good measure.

"Point number one: protecting me is not your responsibility anymore, I can take care of myself and I was just too slow so, really, it was my own fault for not being careful enough. My battle, my mistakes," she crashed her whole hand against his mouth, preventing him from saying otherwise, which he was going to. "Point number two: stop sulking. It's not your fault and I don't want a depressed chef on board. Point number three: what you _should_ be worrying about is the fact that you almost got yourself killed because you didn't even try to defend yourself against a woman, but that's your choice and we all know how you feel about it, so there's not much I can convince you of. Point number four: you're not weak by any means. You are part of the Monster Trio for crying out loud! Point five: I _order_ you to stop feeling miserable about it and I'll take it personally if you don't obey me in this. Point number six: there's really nothing to forgive, but if it really makes you feel any better, then there you go: I forgive you, Sanji. Happy?"

Sanji looked at her as if he had seen God himself descend from the skies surrounded by a gospel choir of hundreds of angels.

"Nami, you're so..." he started, overdramatic tears crowding in his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now get out of here before Chopper gets-"

"Nami! _You're awake!_"

Sanji was pushed to the side and unceremoniously thrown against a wall as a horde of idiots invaded the room, Luffy leading the procession like the crazy kid he was.

"How are you feelingdoyouwaNTMEAT?!"

"Nami, you're awake! How super is that?!"

"Nami! Now that I think of it, I haven't told you yet! Did you know I was fighting a horde of trained assassins mounted in wicked carnivorous horses and I won all by myself with just one finger and a threatening glare?!"

"Usopp, that's not true, it was one man alone and Zoro had to come to rescue you!" Luffy protested, pointing at him with an accusing finger.

"That's what we told you, because I normally don't boast about my victories as I am the commited discrete hero-type, ya know."

"Woaaaah Usopp! How cool is that!" Luffy and Chopper screamed at the same time, proceeding to adore the long nosed man with shining stars in their eyes, Nami forgotten for a second.

"Yohohoho! Nami, may I see your panties?"

"What the fuck did you say you shitty bonny bastard!" Sanji raged, kicking him in the head.

"I was being polite!"

"No, you weren't, damn it!"

"Nami, you look much better, we really do have a _super_ doctor here!"

"Shut up, bastard! Stop complimenting me, you're not making me happy, you goddamn asshole! And _you two,_ stop fighting! No fighting in my infirmary!"

"I'm just trying to relocate this guys' afro, see if he finally gets to use his brain!" Sanji defended, his hand already grabbing Brook's afro with the full intent of leaving him bald.

"Just that I have no braaaaaain! Yohohohohohoho!"

"Hahahaha, Brook you're so funny! Skull jokes!" Luffy cheered like a three-year-old.

"Out of my infirmary! _Now_! You're disturbing my patient!"

"You heard that, bastards, you better get out of here before I kick you asses!"

"Sanji, you too."

"Wha- w_hy_? Chopper that's not fair! I wanna stay, I want be of help to Nami!" Sanji complained, a betrayed look in his face.

"Then go make her something to eat!" Chopper ordered.

"Oh! That's right, you're so clever Chopper!"

"Stop complimenting me, asshole~!"

"_DID I HEAR MEAT FEAST_?!"

"Luffy, what the actual fuck."

"We're throwing a party! Captain's orders!"

"No, we aren't."

"OUT OF HERE!"

"And then the assassins came all at once, ready to cut my head, but guess what, Nami-"

"Nami, want me to bring you meat or not?!"

"Luffy don't interrupt my story, dammit!"

"No, thank you Luffy."

"Well, more for me. Sanji! _Meat_!"

"I'm not cooking for you, you damn black hole! It's just for Nami!"

"But Sanjiii~"

"Yohohohohohoho!"

"_OUT!_"

Some punches and a hoofed kick slamming the door later, the infirmary welcomed the much needed silence. Nami sighed, half laughing and half feeling relieved her crazy crew had stopped piercing her ears with screeching noises.

"Can I stay?"

They both turned to Robin, startled. She was wearing her usual smile, hands held behind her back. They hadn't seen her come back but neither of them bothered to ask when she had come in or if she had been there all along. Chopper nodded, already feeling tired with all the ruckus they had just gone through because 80% of the crew didn't seem to undestrand words like "patient", "rest" or "doctor's orders". And why the hell did they have to yell while talking? Did they know the meaning of indoor voice?

"Oh my, they're loud," Robin chuckled, sitting by Nami's side. The redhead laughed and nodded. "What about Sanji?"

"He looked better after apologizing. Though I told him there was no need."

"Thought so. It's so like him."

* * *

After kicking the shit out of Brook for having been rude to Nami and being nice enough to spare his beloved afro, kicking Franky in the face for being too loud, ordering Usopp to shut the fuck up and playing tag with Luffy as a condition for his captain to leave him the hell alone while cooking, Sanji finally made it to the galley in order to cook for his beloved redhead. His visible eyebrow raised in annoyance when he saw a certain moss-head, who had fallen asleep with his head resting _on _the empty plate where there once had been onigiri. Really, just how much of a caveman could that moss-for-brains be? Before he registered what he was doing, he had a foot plastered against the other man's cheek, causing the idiot to jump and almost fall from his chair.

"What the fuck!"

"You slept on the plate I am going to wash," Sanji explained with a deadpan expression that did wonders to fuel Zoro's irritation. "Get out of my kitchen. I'm gonna cook for Nami."

Zoro snorted and did as he was told but not before getting a hold of a sake bottle. To his surprise, Sanji didn't stop him, but said instead: "Go see Nami. She's awake."

"I already heard before."

"Then fucking go visit her, you mannerless bastard."

The swordsman rolled his eyes.

"I will when Chopper lets us in again. I heard all the ruckus and I _highly_ doubt Chopper won't smack me in the face if he sees me showing up there."

"Okay, whatever, just do it. It'll make her happy."

"Yeah, sure, she'll be dancing and jumping around and puking rainbows when she sees me because we're such good fr-"

Sanji turned to glare at him, and it was a threat. Zoro couldn't help but smile teasingly and caught a glimpse of a similar gesture in Sanji's face before the blond looked away.

"Puking rainbows..." the cook repeated, amazed. Next sound he let out reminded Zoro of a chuckle.

Zoro's grin grew wider and then he left the cook alone but not before half turning and saying:

"By the way, they were good."

When Sanji turned around to look at him, he was gone.

What was that just now? What was good? He squeezed his eyebrows, confused both at the tone and at the words. Was he talking about the onigiri? Wait, was the moss head actually _praising his cuisine_? Sanji had to suppress an incredulous bark of laugh. Nope. No way _in hell_. Zoro would never say something good about the food he fed them. Not even the day Sanji managed to elaborate the best fucking dish in the goddamn world would a nice word come out of Zoro's mouth, that was a fact just as firm as Nami's boobs. Wait, had he just made that kind of comparison? _Oh, well_.

He ended up shaking the thought out of his head and concentrating on cooking something that would make Nami smile since he had so much to make up for.

He definitely didn't keep on wondering if Zoro had _actually_ thrown a compliment at him or not.

**TBC**


	3. Chapter 3 - The Calm Before the Storm

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* * *

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**Chapter 3**

**The Calm Before the Storm**

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* * *

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1.

2.

3.

A glimpse of blond strands caressed by the breeze.

110.

111.

112.

Smoke rising from a cigarette lit with suave and precise motions.

344.

345.

346.

The galley door closing after its king.

2372.

2373.

2374.

"Robin, love, and you horde of cavemans, get your butts over here, lunch is ready!"

A storm of rubber limbs, fur and a long nose ended up stumbling in front of the blonde, who stopped them with a kick in each idiot's face without as much as blinking. Sanji ignored the complaints of his captain, the sniper and the doctor of the ship, who were currently being laughed at by both Franky and Brook, and waited for his black-haired flower to walk in first, bowing and melting in stupid-sounding love declarations.

Annoying.

2409.

2410.

2411.

A kick in the head.

Oh, well.

"Do that again, cook, and I swear I'm gonna cut you in half."

"Do what? This?"

A stronger kick in the head.

Zoro gave up counting his repetitions and angrily threw away the weights he'd been working with, leaving a dent on deck much to Franky's despair. He could swear he heard the man _screeching_. Sanji blocked his sword with the sole of his dress shoe and the most annoying smirk he could pull. Zoro's brow twitched automatically in response.

"When I say 'you horde of cavemans, get your butts over here, lunch is ready' it also includes you, moss head."

Then he used his damn flexibility to lean even closer to Zoro, invading his personal space without his leg trembling one bit, flexing to a point the swordsman swore was not physically possible. His attention switched to the nose almost touching his and then to the pissed-off blue iris regarding him from a higher angle.

"Did it sink in or do I need to kick the concept into your one-cell-brain?"

"Go. To. Hell," Zoro spat.

"Yeah, that's probably where I'm gonna end up being thrown to, but not yet, Marimo. Not yet. I plan on living longer," Sanji shrugged, letting some air flow between them by removing his leg and dodging Zoro's half-assed blow with a slight backwards jump.

Seeing an opening, the cook's hand flew to get a grasp of Zoro's haramaki and drag the unwilling shirtless swordsman behind him. Zoro snapped his hand away and met a pissed-off look that distracted him from the foot that inmediately kicked his ankle and made him fall to the ground.

"AAAGH! Dammit, fucking let me go, shit-cook!" he roared with a vein in his forehead about to explode with anger and humiliation.

But said shit-cook was already unceremoniously dragging him by the ankle and only stopped when he met a bunch of stairs and Zoro's behind had smacked the lowest step.

"Not gonna drag you up there, moss head," he announced wearily. His voice was cut by a fuming swordsman who stood up and grasped his suit in a fist and clashed his own forehead against the blonde's with a fury-possessed expression. "_Fuck!_ That hurt!"

"You totally deserved it, fucker!" Zoro growled with his face almost plastered to the cook's. Sanji started to fear the vein in Zoro's forehead would really explode.

"Agh, man, you stink! Fucking go clean yourself before coming in for lunch! If you don't smell at least half decent you are not allowed in my kitchen."

"You really do seem to want your ass kicked."

"I'm the one in charge of kicking asses here, excuse you."

"Dammit Luffy stop eating others' food!" Usopp's scream reached their ears from the galley and Sanji went purple, much to Zoro's amusement.

"HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I FUCKING TOLD YOU TO WAIT FOR EVERYONE TO BE PRESENT BEFORE YOU EAT, YOU DAMN HUMAN VACUUM?!" Sanji roared, stomping into the galley with a murderous aura that caused Chopper to shriek in panic and Usopp to ask for mercy even when this time he wasn't the one to blame.

Zoro couldn't help but laugh out loud at the murdering sounds coming from the cook's realm. He still could half hear Luffy protesting and Sanji beating the shit out of him when he entered the bathroom.

That was more like Sanji. An unconscious smile curled his lips upwards.

* * *

Zoro entered the galley when everyone was already leaving to take a nap, play tag, repair the deck, play some music, keep on researching that new formula they had been working on or tell big stories nobody really listened to. The swordsman found his portion of food intact on the table, waiting for him. He had to mentally praise the cook for being able to keep it away from the black hole they had for a captain and for actually bothering to fight over it. Not that he was going to open his mouth to show any signs of gratitude, though: he was Roronoa Zoro, the one he should be thanking was Blackleg Sanji, and they hated each other's guts, so _nope_.

He sat down and started to shove the food into his non-grateful-at-all mouth. It took him a while to realize that Robin was still there, helping Sanji clean the dishes with sprouts of hands here and there. Zoro felt an eyebrow rise when he noted that it was weird enough to see the cook letting one of his beautiful flowers help with mundane chores he always did for them. Agh, since when did he pay so much attention to what the cook was doing, or what was usual for him to do and what wasn't?!

"Sanji..."

Zoro raised his head again when he heard the archaeologist thoughtfully call the cook.

"Yes, Robin, love?"

"May I ask you a question?"

"Sure, my flower," Sanji conceded with a smile of his own. The kind of bright smile he only drew for Nami and Robin. Though weaker. Zoro frowned when seeing the gesture with half the force it used to have.

"What's bothering you?"

Straight to the point. That was something Zoro liked about the woman, even though she was kind of creepy sometimes. The flinch in Sanji's shoulders didn't go unnoticed by the swordsman, who frowned even deeper and stopped eating. They didn't seem to have a problem with him being in the same room as them as they talked, so they wouldn't mind it if he took the time to properly listen to the conversation.

Sanji stopped his work, rinsed his hands and turned to face Robin with a bothered look on his face.

"Nami," he managed to answer.

That tone. That fucking defeated tone. _The_ defeated look. That defeated pose. Oh, how he wanted to punch that bastard in the face and bring him back somehow. That was so _not _like him. He had been acting like this for a while now. And that annoyed Zoro to no end without even understanding why. But didn't everything the cook say and do annoy him? But _that_ did far way more than annoy him. That infuriated the hell out of him and made something dangerous boil in his stomach, for no sensible reason.

Half a second later Sanji regained his composure and lit a cigarette, exhaling smoke and relaxing to it, going back to his usually proud and confident stance. The bothered look stayed, though. Well, at least he didn't look like a defeated man anymore. Zoro felt his shoulders relax a bit and waited for the cook to explain himself, partially placated.

"What about Nami?" Robin helped, gently.

"She's our navigator and she won't be able to do her job for a while in this state. Chopper said she'd need at least a week of rest without getting out of bed."

Both Robin and Zoro understood where this was going and the implications of what their cook was saying, an uneasy feeling blossoming in the pits of their stomachs.

"This crew needs her in shape," Zoro agreed, voicing their thoughts out loud.

Sanji looked at him for the first time since he had come in and nodded, serious. He had a calculating and troubled look now while holding his cigarette between two fingers near his lips, which he was biting.

"Have you sensed anything weird?" Sanji carefully asked after a while, looking at both of them intently.

Zoro looked at Robin, assuming she'd answer, and she looked back, doubtful.

"You mean about the weather?" he ventured when Robin didn't open her mouth. If the topic was related to Nami it had to be something about the weather, he thought.

Sanji nodded at him again, clearly waiting for an answer he... feared?

Robin looked back at Zoro. Zoro didn't have anything else to say. That's as deductive as he was getting today. When she couldn't find an answer in his now lost stare, she fixed her eyes at the ceiling with her brows slightly furrowed.

"Well... We've actually been having quite a nice weather for the past few days. Not a single cloud," she said. And she suddenly looked as bothered as Sanji as she shared a look with him.

"So?" Zoro grunted. He wasn't getting shit.

"May I remind you we're in the New World?" Sanji snapped with an expression that read: 'can you be more of an idiot?'. "We're supposed to be facing crazy weather nobody understands, supernatural nature disasters and all this shit we haven't been through for a while now," then, turning to Robin, "Excuse the language, Robin, my flower."

Zoro felt his good eye widen a bit, the information sinking in. Now that they mentioned it... Not a single rain drop, not a damn cloud, not a wave troubling them. Well, if that wasn't weird... But wasn't that good for them?

"Not even a Sea King bothering us, indeed," Robin muttered, deep in thought. "How do they call it? The calm before the storm?"

Something clicked inside his brain. He looked straight up at Robin and then at Sanji, who was also letting his gaze wander between the two of them, tense.

"You mean something's coming our way?" Zoro asked.

Not that he was afraid, he definitely wasn't, but they were in the freaking New World and if something was to happen _now_ in the middle of that vast and crazy-as-hell ocean, they'd have to face it without Nami. And much to his annoyance, he had to admit that the redhead was the only one who could get them out of trouble when their enemy was a storm, the wind or gigantic waves capable of sinking a whole fleet. Not to be a pessimist but if something was up with the weather before Nami could lead their moves, they were most likely screwed.

"That, or we are on our way to that 'something'," Sanji said. "Not that we can know for sure. It may just be me being too sensitive about the whole situation and maybe we'll just get to the next island without much of a problem but..."

"No, I think you're right," Robin cut him. "The wind hasn't been as strong today. Just a breeze. And the sky..." she walked to the window, taking a peek to see if her assumptions were right. "...is a different blue. Deeper. Awkwardly so."

"Maybe we should just ask Nami. See if your thoughts are correct. If something's up she'll have already sensed it," Zoro suggested, stuffing his mouth with a forkful of pasta.

"She would have already said something if she had," Sanji shook his head in a dismissive gesture.

"So? If she hasn't said anything, there must be nothing to worry about," Zoro reasoned.

"She's drugged and sleeping most of the time, moss-head, how do you want her to sense a damn thing? And since she is in the infirmary she can't even _see_ the weather either," Sanji snapped again, visibly irritated at Zoro's slow reasoning. "We'll have to manage alone if something happens, and we better be prepared because there's no Nami leading us this time."

Robin sighed and nodded.

"We'll have to keep our eyes wide open," she agreed. "If we notice something, even if it seems ridiculous or unimportant, we say it."

"Good. But I wouldn't tell others," Sanji thought out loud. "We'd just make them worry, maybe without a need. And, even if they knew, half of them would just freak out and become a burden, and the other half wouldn't give a damn until they had a gigantic wave in front of their noses."

Both Zoro and Robin nodded, mentally classifying their crew members in those two groups with unfazed ease. That sounded pretty sensible, actually.

"And unless things get _really_ weird or we are in immediate danger, we must absolutely _not_ drag Nami into this," the blond turned specifically to Zoro, pointing at him menacingly. "Understood?"

Zoro gave him the finger but still shook his head in agreement a few seconds later as he resumed eating.

"We don't want her unnecessarily worried. Right now she needs to get better at all costs."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Shit's talked about, let me finish my food."

"King of politeness strikes again," Sanji mocked, rolling his eyes.

Robin chuckled and then headed outside.

"I'm gonna take a look at Nami's maps and notes about the New World, see if I can get something out of it. I will tell you if I find any useful information."

"I'll be waiting, my beautiful flower! Thank you so much! And don't worry, if something happens I'll..."

But then his voice got cut and a strange expression crossed his face half a second before he let a dish slip from his hands and crash to the floor.

"Oh, my! Excuse my rudeness, Robin, darling! How could I be so clumsy!" he immediately excused himself while bending to get the broken bits, effectively hiding his face behind a curtain of hair.

Robin blinked at this and risked a glance at Zoro, who was currently eyeing his knife with murder intent, a popping vein decorating his forehead.

"Don't worry. Thank you for warning us, Sanji," she said quickly and smiling. Then she left the two men alone.

Sanji had just finished cleaning the mess he had made when he heard his 'favourite' voice addressed at him.

"Oh, how clumsy of you."

It sounded an awful lot like the voice Sanji would pull when talking to his ladies. It did sound stupid, to be fair. At least coming from Zoro. Just that the dose of sarcasm and somewhat resentment was considerably high in the way the swordsman chewed his words, turning it into a rather aggressive comment.

"Shut the fuck up," Sanji snapped back.

Zoro looked at him but Sanji was only showing him his back. The swordsman could easily complete the sentence that had been left mid-air: "If something happens I'll protect you" or some shit like that. He had heard the cook say that again and again and _again_, always meaning it, always staying true to his word and actually backing it up with actual action and results, always _confident_.

Now he couldn't even bring himself to say it. Zoro bit his lip to prevent himself from standing up and beating the shit out of him for no evident reason.

"Whatever."

The swordsman managed to get a hold of himself and brought the empty dish to the kitchen counter when he felt pretty confident of his capacity to restrain his violent urges towards the cook.

"Do you really think we're getting into shit?" he asked in a low voice.

Sanji finally turned to him and stared directly into his steel eye, nothing but honesty in his blue one.

"Yes."

Zoro found himself sighing. "Oh, well. We've managed worse before." He brought himself to draw an encouraging grin despite the urge to punch the cook.

He got his little reward when Sanji naturally grinned back mirroring his confident gesture, looking like himself once again. If he could just always stay like this... If he could just not disappear every now and then when he wasn't careful enough as to hide the sad, defeated eyes he didn't recognise as the cook's... Zoro wondered if there was any way to keep the expression he was currently showing plastered to his face forever, confident, defying, ready to kick ass. And then proceeded to slap himself mentally. Several times. And _hard_. What _the fuck_ was he thinking?!

"We'll manage," he rushed, suddenly feeling awkward.

Sanji chuckled half heartedly but still nodded.

"Sure. Now get out of my kitchen, Marimo. I need to cook Nami's lunch."

Zoro frowned at him but kept it light as he had caught a glimpse of humor beneath Sanji's words.

"Zoro."

Said man stopped just before leaving, turning to face a half serious blonde.

"Keep your eye extra open. You have to compensate for the useless one."

Zoro showed him his middle finger in all his glory, scowling like mad, but Sanji could hear his strong deep laugh after the door closed behind him with a thump. That made Sanji let out a soft genuine smile.

**TBC**


	4. Chapter 4 - The Wind

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* * *

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**Chapter 4 **

**The Wind**

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* * *

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The sun raised as it always did, painting the sky with reds and oranges and violets that took over the blackness and the dark blues, stars still shining faintly and the moon being just a hint that it had been there. The ocean turned gold and reflected the light like a still and huge mirror always facing the sky.

A certain cook woke up to the scene filling his lungs with the first cigarette of the day, leaning against the rail of the still asleep Thousand Sunny. The smoke managed to dissipate upon him but the breeze was so faint it couldn't take it too far away. The calmness was so solid one could almost take a bite of it and chew it. It was too calm. Sanji's eyebrow twitched at the thought.

When he finished his first smoke, he headed to the kitchen and started planning the day's breakfast, which would be better than the day before but never better than the day after as he didn't accept anything else than to keep improving and getting better. Luffy would say it was delicious as always but Sanji could tell the difference and took his moments to feel proud of his little achievements.

But today it felt forced.

Today he had to make an effort to concentrate and find that little detail that would make it better. It had been happening ever since Nami got hurt back in the last island, back when _he _had let her get hurt because he was too weak to protect her. Funny enough, the strong conviction he proudly lived by, never hurting a woman, not even if he died, ended up letting a woman he cared about get hurt. It sucked and it haunted him in his sleep and during his times alone with his thoughts, a pattern that was beginning to wear him down.

Luckily enough, his dark thoughts were disturbed when he heard the familiar sound of combat boots stomping downstairs to the deck. Time for the crew's resident moss ball to do his crazy morning training. Sanji concentrated on the fried eggs he was currently working on, his attention back to improving his culinary talent and being distracted from his previous line of thought. Thankfully. There's only so much self-pitying and self-despising one can take before going nuts.

Breakfast took a while as Sanji made sure there was something new and special in every dish, as he bothered personalizing each of his nakama's servings because it kept on distracting him and gave him something to think about other than how worthless and shit he was.

A more rational part of him weakly tried to convince him that he was overreacting but 98% of his brain and chest and stomach constantly felt like shit when he thought about how he had let Nami get badly hurt. He blamed himself for all there was to blame while trying to find a way to amend things and not finding any. Nami had made it crystal clear that she didn't think it was his fault and that she didn't want him distressed over this, which had kind of helped him torture himself a little less, to find some kind of relief, but it never really made the guilt stored in his chest go away. It stayed there just like an anchor. And cooking was one of the things that made the weight lighter, even if it still didn't come out as natural as it normally would and he had to force himself to put the same amount of effort to make what he always did: fucking kill it because he was the coolest greatest chef, that is. Better approach, he congratulated himself. He could use some self-indulgence.

Giving a satisfied look at the servings, he headed out of the galley and took a deep breath to call everyone for breakfast. He stopped for a moment, though, when his gaze met the back of the crew's swordsman tensing and flexing as he counted his billionth push-up, tensed bronzed muscles glittery and shiny and humid because of the sweat. When the "_what the actual fuck_" alarm switched on, Sanji realized he had been taking the view for far too long and made his presence noticed by lighting a cigarette. The swordsman only paused for the tiniest millisecond and then kept going with his repetitions as if he hadn't noticed Sanji after the weak 'click' reached his ears, which he had.

"You better go wash yourself before coming in, you damn muscle-brain," Sanji announced in a flat tone, not expecting Zoro to stop with his training or to acknowledge his presence or words for that matter. Then he breathed in again and shouted for everyone to hear. "_Breakfast is ready!_"

Hell broke loose somewhere in the men's quarters as they heard various war noises and, above them all, Luffy yelling "_breakfaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaast!_" and some other intelligible garbage that only meant Sanji had to get ready to barricade the galley in order to stop their captain from storming in before everyone else and gulping everyone's food, plates included. Sanji rolled his eyes in distress and took the few precious seconds he had left before world war started to lay his gaze on Zoro again. To his surprise, he had stopped doing his 'warming up' and was now sat cross-legged on the grass, looking at him with serious eyes. Sanji didn't need the marimo to voice his thoughts out loud; his look was one of concern and it was exactly the same Sanji was now giving him. They had both realized how weak the wind was. How everything was too calm. A spark of understanding crossed both men's eyes. Both of them nodded to signal that they were in the same page, and fell into a wary stance.

Just then, Luffy stomped out of the men's quarters and Sanji lazily took some steps back to the galley door with precise timing to plant the sole of his dress shoe against Luffy's face as he unguardedly attacked the door full-force, never seeing the chef coming before his foot was already plastered against his nose.

Ah, routine, sweet routine.

"Good morning, captain, my captain," Sanji greeted with a murderous smile.

"Morning, Sanji..." Luffy whined in a defeated tone. Even _he_ knew it was useless trying to fight Sanji when it came to protecting food. And there was only so much sneaking around he could do before getting kicked in the face for good measure. Which he had already.

"Gah, dammit Luffy, you're always the same!" Usopp complained while heading towards them still in his pyjamas and a sleepy look on his face. "You almost _destroyed_ my hammock! Can't you contain your morning enthusiasm a little?"

"Sanji, I'm hungryyyyy!"

"Well, too bad, because you'll just wait 'til everyone gets here and you'll shut the fuck up, is that clear enough?!" Sanji growled at him while kicking him again, this time just as a warning. Which Luffy needed, really. Then he thought of the way he usually addressed their captain as rather inappropriate (not that he gave a fuck really) and fixed it with a curt (and rather mocking) "Captain, my captain."

Luffy scowled and looked at the blonde as if he was the meanest creature ever to step on Earth. When Sanji took none of his bullshit, he proceeded to pout and look like a starving puppy that hadn't been fed in months. Sanji didn't hesitate to illustrate exactly how many fucks he gave, which was somewhere below zero.

By when their daily repetitive exchange had finished, Robin was already there and Sanji graciously opened the door for her and then 'kindly' invited the rest of the bastards who had finally gathered in front of him to come in and fucking behave, see if they learnt some manners and today, for a change, they didn't eat like pigs. Not like he was going to be any lucky, though. At the very beginning he had had the hope that, as they were all brainless morons, there'd be a lot of empty space in their heads to kick in some manners, but then it turned out that not only they had no brain at all but their skull was thick as fuck as well, so none of the gentleman knowledge and manners Sanji tried to relocate in them seemed to find a way in. In the end, he had just given up on hope. He hadn't stopped trying, though; karma better return this to him.

Just before entering the jungle his kitchen had muted into, he turned to face Zoro.

"And you better not-"

"Don't worry, cook, I won't be skipping breakfast, so chill," Zoro snapped at him with a roll of his eyes as he started walking. "I'm just gonna wash. Bathroom. You asked for it."

"Whatever, just come when you're finished. Nobody goes without breakfast under my-"

"Yeah, yeah, now fuck off."

Sanji felt the tip of his lip twitch in amusement and Zoro felt it just the same without even looking at him as an annoyed twitch of his eyebrow matched the cook's amused one based on pure instinct.

"What now?" he growled, not even knowing why he was letting himself be dragged into the cook's shitty provocation, which he wasn't supposed to be sensing because he wasn't fucking _looking_, and yet he _felt _the stupid smile that promised that something equally stupid would come out of Sanji's mouth for the sole purpose of annoying him.

"The bathroom's that way," Sanji pointed out with his lips trembling in an attempt not to laugh straight at the swordsman's face. So much for trying.

Zoro's ears went red as he saw, felt and was stabbed with Sanji's fucking smug grin that could only be translated as a neon-light reading 'you're the king of idiots'.

Sanji couldn't restrain himself anymore and started laughing like mad as Zoro enthusiastically flipped him off with a look that promised pain, though half as intimidating, as embarrassment had taken over the leading role dressing Zoro's face in deep red and the scowliest scowl ever.

"How can you even... fucking get lost in-a fucking... ship you spend 24... hours in?!" Sanji managed between laughter, but Zoro was already stomping away and didn't give him the pleasure to answer to that.

Such a shame. It would have definitely been fun seeing Zoro trying to justify that.

When he sat down with the others, Robin sent him a meaningful look he grasped while dismissing one of Usopp's shitty lies and she casually commented:

"Today is quite a calm day."

Of course nobody else listened to the observation or, if they did, they gave it no much thought to none, but Sanji nodded with the same casual demeanor and they both confirmed that the other was aware of the weird and concerning weather issue. Good. They both needed to keep their attention sharp and ready.

Speaking of attention, Sanji's was caught when Luffy stretched his arm to get Zoro's serving, but the cook was quick as lightning at kicking it away with a snarl and the promise of physical pain in his glare, which made Luffy retreat for a bit.

"It's not your damn food, Luffy!"

Just in case, he put the plate away from the table, not that Luffy wouldn't be able to get it if he really bothered to and stretched as he knew he could, but the gesture made his point clear and it still was safer.

Sanji tried to ignore Robin's not so discrete chuckle.

* * *

Zoro put on some clean clothes and his ever present haramaki and emerged from the bathroom clean and refreshed, with his spiky green hair still wet. He still got a scowl imprinted in his face, embarrassment still making him try to come up with an excuse as for why he had gone the wrong direction to find the bathroom. Not that he would usually bother to justify himself anymore since, to be frank, he didn't really give a damn about other people's opinions on his sense of direction, but the cook, almost as always, was an exception. That damn blonde managed to get under his skin with barely a mocking smirk and his instincts automatically looked for ways to counterattack anything that came from him. So yeah, he had spent all of his quick shower time, which was meant to be relaxing, struggling with his brain cells to find a way to give the cook back all the embarrassment he had just gone through. Really productive. Specially really mature.

But thinking about possible answers and revenges also led him to realize he hadn't seen that defeated look on the cook that morning. Which was good, he guessed. He hated that look _so much_ he could barely bring himself not to punch the blonde straight in the face. He tried to picture the expressions he'd seen that morning on Sanji, but the closest one to the oh so hated look had been the concerned stare they'd shared for a second, which had nothing to do with the cook's shitty mood but with the weather problem they were currently bound to have. Aside from that, everything had gone smooth as always, same old morning routine, same bickering and reactions, same badass cook being stupid and badass along with the stupidity of everyone else as background noise.

Zoro kind of felt relieved. Every time he caught a glimpse of that expression, something inside his stomach didn't set right. Every time he saw that, even if it had been just a few times since Sanji was probably the best goddamn actor he had ever encountered in his life, the cook looked like a loser. And Sanji was many things, but one that was definitely _not_ in the list was 'loser'. Seeing him look like this was so out of place he didn't even know how to react to it. They hated each other's guts but, damn, every second Sanji let his guard down and his shoulders fell like that, Zoro missed his proud, over-confident, badass self so much it hurt and, most of all, pissed him off big time.

Today he hadn't seen any signs, so it seemed alright. He didn't quite buy it though, he had seen the cook erase his feelings from his face quicker than he blinked. Him not showing hurt or pain or guilt or whatever he was going through didn't mean it wasn't there.

Zoro sighed.

And since when the hell did _he_, Roronoa Fucking Zoro, sigh? He ran a hand trough his spiky hair in an annoyed and exasperated gesture and headed to the kitchen, not that he expected there to be any food left considering their captain's antics when it came to gulping everyone else's dishes down. He could always ask for Sanji to cook something for him, he thought. All in all it was his job, as much as Sanji disliked him.

But, contrary to what he expected, the cook wasn't in the empty galley when he walked in. Zoro frowned and made it to go look for him and demand food when he saw a plate set on the kitchen counter. He closed the distance between him and his discovery and found a little note by its side reading 'Marimo's serving. Luffy, if I find out you've eaten it, you're flying out of the fucking ship'. Very nice. Though it would have been useless since, if Luffy had walked by, he wouldn't have bothered to read the threat written in there before gulping the food down. Zoro found himself smirking at the note.

The cook had bothered to fight for his ration... again. That kind of surprised him; he knew for a fact that Sanji wasn't exactly a fan of him and yet he had bothered... again.

And then he realized something was off. He looked around to see what it was and found that none of the dishes had been washed. Weird. Not something Sanji would let happen in his kitchen. Zoro frowned and forgot about his breakfast as he got an idea of where the cook could be. Before he knew what he was doing, his feet dragged him to the infirmary, where he found his prize indeed.

Just that it wasn't what he had wanted to find, really.

Sanji didn't even sense his presence, he was totally absorbed in his thoughts. He was sat on a chair by Nami's sleeping form, probably drugged by the painkillers. Her expression revealed she was in pain and her breathing was shallow and weird. Sweat patched her red hair to her pale wet face. The plate full of breakfast Sanji had adoringly prepared for her was forgotten on a table nearby as she was in no condition to eat right now.

But Zoro's attention wasn't on her anymore. He knew she'd struggle and that it must be quite painful, but he also knew the woman was strong, they all were damn it, they had gone through so much; all of them deserved a bit of credit for that, they were the fucking Strawhats! He knew she'd totally make it and he totally believed in Chopper, who had announced she was in no risk of dying whatsoever. He told them she'd struggle for a few days until pain calmed down and, if he had heard it right, she would be able to walk again and join normal life in a week or so. So, even if he didn't like to see her in pain and even if he had indeed frozen in panic when he had seen her be pierced, not knowing if she'd die or not back at that island (not that he'd admit it out loud, mind you), now he was sure she wouldn't, and he wouldn't worry more than needed.

What really got him was Sanji's stance. There it was again. Fallen weak shoulders, an unlitt cigarette hanging from his unexpressive lips, an empty and defeated stare looking at Nami with so much guilt one could almost breathe it in, hands clenched together and slightly trembling. The figure of a defeated man who had gone and come from war and lost it all.

_What the fuck._

Zoro's rage filled his lungs in an explosion of white and red and he had to clench his teeth and fists not to go and do something stupid such as rearranging the cook's face, though it sounded pretty appealing right now. He couldn't take it, he really couldn't. _That_ wasn't the cook he knew. That wasn't Sanji _at all_. That was a poor excuse of the man's shadow. Dammit, even the bastard's shadow on a cloudy day stood prouder than that! The urge to bring him back hit him so hard that he had to restrain himself from going and violently shaking him out of it and shouting straight into his face to fucking come back to Earth.

Instead, he did something he knew would set the cook's own rage on fire, which was about a billion times better than what he was witnessing right now.

"So, how's the sea witch doing?"

Sanji jumped about a feet in surprise, his shoulders back where they should be, his hands disentangled and suddenly steady. And then it all turned to pure rage that sent his whole body trembling, but for a completely different reason, when he slowly turned to face the swordsman, clearly containing himself and with a pissed as hell look in his face. Good. That was _so _much better. At least that was Sanji.

"What did you just say?" he asked in a dangerous tone that promised some good kicking if Zoro didn't apologize for that.

Well, Zoro would rather have him kicking shit than sulking, so...

"You deaf? I asked if the _sea witch_ is doing okay," he resolved, coolly.

Totally knowing what was coming.

"I'm fucking gonna kick your ass so bad you're gonna end up throwing up your apologies, you dumbfuck idiot marimo!"

Sanji stood up and fisted his haramaki to drag Zoro outside and the greenhead didn't fight back until they were on deck, where he ducked a deadly kick aimed at his face.

Zoro was pissed off as well. Sanji's defeated stance really did make him wanna break things, but a feral grin still escaped his lips as he unshielded his swords, seeing no more of that pathetic look, happy that he had brought the blonde to their meant-to-be territory, which was being badass motherfuckers stupidly fighting like idiots for nothing other than pride and the mere feeling of enjoying every bit of the fight.

Sanji was Sanji again, which was all that mattered right now.

Sanji spinned around, wiping the air with his long legs and making Zoro retreat only to contort his body when finding an opening and launching through it. The opening no longer existed though, as Sanji had already read his movement in anticipation and was now jumping up in the air with the damn moon walk thing that put Zoro at disadvantage. Not one to complain when a challenge was presented, though, Zoro redirected his blow and a cut scratched the mast just where the blonde had been suspended.

Speaking of blonde, a curtain of gold hair invaded his vision when the cook managed to get close to him at surprising speed and threw a kick by his temple, which Zoro avoided by bending his body slightly backwards and cutting the air with his sword, aiming at Sanji's side. His attack didn't go as planned though, as the other foot of the blonde kicked his ankle and made him stumble and lose balance as he was still dodging the first attack. How the hell did Sanji do that? It shouldn't be possible for his foot to reach his feet when the other leg was still up in the air forcing Zoro to get away of his aim, not without losing his own balance at least. But then again, it was _Sanji_ he was talking about. What he managed to do with his legs was something even science or anatomy experts wouldn't be able to explain, that he was sure of. So he fell and missed his blow and Sanji pinned him against the grass, lazily siting on his stomach with a pissed off look as he lighted the cigarette he'd ben munching on for too long.

"So, what you are going to do _right now_, you damn marimo head, and you better listen-"

A gasp escaped his lips and cut him mid sentence when the swordsman let go of one of his swords and used his upper body to force them to switch positions, and without as much as blinking he was siting on Sanji, having immobilized his legs so that he lost his most powerful weapon, pinning both his arms over the blonde's head with a single hand and pointing the edge of the sword at his throat with the other one.

"Said what?"

Sanji went all shades of red and Zoro swore that if glares could kill he'd already be buried somewhere far away without a proper funeral. That only caused his grin to grow wider, triumphant and cocky.

"Go on, I was willing to listen, don't be shy."

"You goddamn fucking shitty marimo! I'm fucking gonna kick your mossy head off your body and send it flying to the moon and back and I'm gonna fucking filet the rest of you until your fucking over-worked body isn't recognisable anymore and _I fucking swear to God_ if you don't fucking get off me about fucking right now I'm fucking gonna-mph!"

Sanji's rant was interrupted when Zoro's hand brusquely covered it, suddenly serious. He had been chuckling at the beginning at how colourful Sanji's language could become, but something had caught his attention and he was now wearing a concentrated and concerned look. Sanji tried to ask "what now?" but the sound was muffled by Zoro's rough palm on his lips so he tried a different approach and questioned him with his visible eye, starting to get worried. The pressure on his legs had evaporated as right now all the swordsman's efforts were set elsewhere. He was simply sitting on him, no force applied whatsoever. Sanji didn't shove him off though, instead, he waited for an answer. But Zoro's gaze was fixed on the sky.

A drop of sweat fell from Zoro's jaw to Sanji's cheekbone near his eye and he blinked at the contact. Zoro's hand was still on Sanji's wrists but it no longer had the purpose of holding him down, it just rested there, hot and sweaty. The other laid on Sanji's mouth, testing the blonde's patience. He thought of sticking his tongue out of his lips so that he could lick Zoro's palm and force the bastard to back away but just as the thought crossed his mind (and, seriously now, what the fuck was he even thinking) Zoro looked down at him with a frown and worry in his open eye, searching something in his blue one and effectively freezing Sanji in place.

Sanji looked back at him, straight into his eye, trying to guess what that was all about. Another sweat drop lazily slid down Zoro's nose to his tip and then fell on Sanji's forehead. And something finally clicked.

Zoro found what he had been looking for when Sanji's eye widened in understanding.

Somewhere in the same deck, not far away, Franky was cursing them and complaining about how they had scratched the fucking mast and the Thousand Sunny wasn't to blame that they were idiots, Usopp backing him up and Luffy laughing like mad somewhere else.

Sanji's eye never left Zoro's.

The greenhead removed his hand from Sanji's mouth, slightly brushing his lips, and Sanji barely opened them to voice the thought that was crossing both their minds out loud.

"The wind..."

The wind had completely stopped.

**TBC**


	5. Chapter 5 - Saw it Coming

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**Chapter 5**

**Saw it Coming**

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"Shit"

Sanji made to get the swordsman off of him but said man was already scrambling up, giving him space to regain his footing, and next moment they were both taking hurried steps towards Franky and the rest of the crew.

"Have you seen Robin?" Zoro asked in a weird steady tone.

Franky shot them a glare and started swearing and telling them off for actively destroying the Thousand Sunny every other day with their stupid fights, but was cut off when Sanji pinned him to the scarred mast with a foot planted against his broad chest.

"Marimo asked you a question," he prompted. "Have you seen her?"

Oh, man, was that Blackleg Sanji backing Roronoa Zoro up in an out-of-the-blue situation? Glad he'd lived to see it! The blue haired man raised an eyebrow at this and, instead of getting even more annoyed at the ruthless attack, he seemed to grasp something was off with the duo, because he forgot his complaints and gave them a curt indication:

"I think she's at the aquarium... Maybe the library?"

Blond and green stomped to the aquarium only to find Brook rehearsing with his violin and offering them a special private music show "yohohohoho". They both dismissed it with a wave and headed to the library, almost running now. Sky was still blue as ever, no clouds in sight, not a single wave, and no wind _at all_. Still kind of idyllic. Still felt dangerous as hell.

"Robin!"

The archaeologist lifted her gaze from the book she was currently reading, her expression surprised at first and then gravely understanding as she sensed bad news carried by a hurried-looking duo who walked her way shoulder by shoulder. Really, those two coordinating like this, just walking side by side without jabs, or kicks, or puns, or anything other than a common goal and worry in their eyes, could only mean something bad was forcing them to lower their tolerating standards towards each other. Which meant there was a need for them to cooperate, which they seemed to naturally do only when needed, and that usually was when the crew was fucked. So, yeah, bad news.

"What's wrong?" she inquired, rapidly standing to save time.

"Robin, dear, it's the wind," Sanji announced with a soft tone he only graced ladies with but still miles away from the one he would usually use with them. Which meant he meant business, which meant him sensing serious trouble coming their way.

"What's wrong with it?" she asked again, trying to make them get things straight.

"It's just not there," Zoro answered with a frown.

There was something about the whole situation that really bugged him and, judging from the tapping of a dress shoe by his side, it also bothered Sanji, and not in a rational way. It was instinct and both of them trusted it with everything they had.

"Wind has totally stopped blowing," Sanji nodded, lighting a cigarette with a nervous gesture.

Robin frowned as well, her lip slightly pouting when thinking.

"That is weird, indeed."

"Not just weird, it's dangerous as fuck," Zoro corrected her with a huff. "I sense it. Something's coming our way."

"Same here," Sanji agreed while scowling at Zoro for speaking to a lady in that tone. "I trust my gut. We both do," he added, taking a sided quick glance at Zoro to make sure he was with him in this, and he felt relieved when he nodded, even though he knew he would.

"Then, what do we do?" Robin wondered, starting to get the anxious feeling as well. "Is it, like... immediate danger?"

"I'd dare say so, dear, yes."

"Absolutely yes."

Oh, well. Both of them agreeing that many times in such a short period of time was _really_ something to be worried about. Something about that made her thoughts kick into strategy mode, trying to sort out a way to fight against a danger which hadn't yet presented but would in no time, apparently. Even though they really didn't know what they'd confront this time. In Sanji's opinion, it'd be a big-ass storm, New World's style, obviously.

"Isn't it about time we woke the sleeping beauty up?" Zoro grunted flatly. "This is her damn job."

Sanji would've almost patted the Marimo's back for managing to refer to Nami with the term 'beauty' if it wasn't for the sarcastic wave in his voice that screamed 'sea witch' instead. So instead of that, he kicked his shin for good measure, gaining a surprised gasp from Zoro, who glared at him with killing intent. That had hurt, dammit.

"I agree with our swordsman," Robin said matter-of-factly. "Just in case. Even if she's in a weakened state, a little bit of expert advice wouldn't do us any harm, would it?"

Now she was looking at Sanji since he was the only one to convince, but his expression told them he didn't need any more justifying either.

"Yes, yes, I agree as well," he sighed. "We need her. But we can't let her make any extra efforts." His voice roughened when pronouncing the last words, making them understand that he'd do anything to make sure of that.

The trio nodded at the same time, Zoro slightly pissed, Robin thoughtful and Sanji plainly worried that they had to bother Nami with that shit. But as soon as they came to terms with what to do, they were already heading towards the infirmary almost like a little army, Zoro leading the group. Once he stepped outside, though, he stopped for an instant before Sanji bumped into him, cursing him but then stopping as well when he realised what the marimo was paying attention to.

"Oh my..." Robin muttered behind them.

Sanji's eye widened and the anxious feeling of danger _right there and then _overwhelmed him. He'd seen it coming. But not that _fast_.

"Shit."

The sky was now rock grey, not a scratch of blue or white or any other color that dared break the solidity of the now menacing sky. It was fucking bright blue just a minute ago, how the hell had those clouds appeared and taken any sun ray away? Suddenly it was cold and the atmosphere was oppressing. Suddenly the sky seemed too close to them and too dark and solid for comfort.

But still, no wind blowed.

"What the actual..."

"Hey!" Zoro shouted to get the rest of the crew's attention.

"Wait!" Sanji ordered, catching him by the shoulder and turning the muscular body towards him only to face a stubborn surprised stare.

"What now," the green haired inquired with an edge of threat in his voice.

"Wait until we tell Nami," he explained himself, trying to control the urge to kick back inside the marimo's mouth any responses he could come up with against his point. Which said marimo was about to do with a frown before Robin cut in with a calm tone that ordered them not to start a stupid scene.

"He's right, if she has any instructions to give us, we rather get the crew moving with them instead of blindly doing so and causing panic before we know how to go about it."

"Heard her? You're so wise, Robin!"

"Shut your curly face."

"And what was that, Marimo?!"

"What the hell? Why's the sky suddenly so grey?" a bubbly voice asked, not far away. "When did it get like this? Franky, is it gonna rain?"

"And how should I know? I'm not our _super_ navigator!"

Sanji exchanged a quick look with Zoro, who frowned even deeper. The crew were gathering on deck, starting to wonder what was going on by themselves but apparently still oblivious of what was coming their way. Now they were both sure of it, they were about to be screwed by something they couldn't cut or kick, which was a remarkable problem considering that that was the only thing they could do against it. They were no Nami. Leave it to her to get them out of this kind of enemy. And that is why they needed her now.

"Let's get this shit done," Zoro urged with a tight voice. Sanji nervously nodded, playing with his cigarette as a way of distracting himself. Zoro noticed his hand wasn't exactly steady which only served to worsen his already tense mood. He just hoped the cook would get a hold of himself. Hell, he trusted him to, but he had seen _that_ look that same morning and he didn't know if or when the blonde's mask would shatter again. Last thing they needed right now was that, to be fair.

He was taken away of his thoughts as Sanji rushed to the infirmary without giving him a second look with steady and quite confident steps, Robin following him and gesturing for Zoro to do the same.

Chopper raised his head when he heard them coming in and faced them with surprised brown eyes that hid right away when turning to look at Nami, who was currently trying to weakly sit up with a hand clutching her hair and a pained look in her face.

"Oi, sea witch, did you feel it too?" Zoro asked without waiting a blink, blunt as his swords.

"I swear, Zoro, if you don't show her some fucking respect I'll-"

"Yes, I've- I have felt it too..." Nami managed with a frown, her eyes still closed. "Something's off... What- what's going on?"

Zoro looked at the ceiling for a moment while containing a deep sigh and felt the cook's eyes stuck on his face. When he slightly turned to look at him, he saw in his expression the same aggravated worry he was feeling himself. Well, it was no longer an hypothesis. If Nami had sensed it too, even when being drugged and numb, they were officially fucked up.

"The sky is totally plumb grey," Robin explained when neither of them seemed to look for an answer outside of each other's eyes. "The wind just completely stopped blowing a while ago, and the sky was deep blue with no clouds anywhere to be seen before that. And now, in the blink of an eye, it has just turned like this. No wind is blowing yet."

"Ugh... Damn... This is bad. Help me up," Nami ordered when she realized she couldn't get up by herself without falling face first to the ground. She mentally scolded herself. It wasn't time to be weak. She was sensing a change in the atmosphere she didn't like one bit. It definitely meant trouble and she had to be up to guide the crew through it. It was almost there, she could feel it. "Hurry up!"

"Nami, darling, you can't," Sanji objected, finally leaving Zoro's eyes to approach the redhead with both hands extended in a concealing gesture that made it seem like he was about to touch fragile glass.

"Shut up, Sanji, I'm fine," Nami cut him with a fiery glare. "Help me get up."

"Seriously now, Nami, you can't in this condition, you'll only harm yourself more than I already-" this time it was himself who cut the sentence mid-air in a shallow gasp when he realised what he had been about to say. Definitely something he had promised the redhead not to mention. And she must have realized where his mind was going because she stabbed him with an angry dark look in her eyes telling him to shut up for good.

Zoro looked at his back with the deepest scowl he'd been wearing all day. Rage had taken the best of him again and his hand twitched against the hilt of his swords as he did his best to keep his mouth shut and overlook the unfinished thought. Seriously now, this was beginning to get on his nerves. And he hadn't even seen the bastard's face when saying it. But, oh man, didn't he want to break things just by hearing the slightly wrecked voice that had momentarily slipped past Sanji's mask! Just... _j__ust_... Agh!

"Cook's right, you stay here and tell us what to do," he managed. And his own voice was so tense he feared it would break into a roar. He had to remind himself it wasn't time for that; they needed all of their brains clear and switched in the same direction to face their current problem. But really, if he had to hear or see or fucking _feel_ Sanji being this self-despising and _not Sanji_ one more time, he was just going to snap.

"You both better shut up and help me," Nami growled at the same time she brought a hand to her forehead. Dammit, the painkillers got her good. "Robin?"

"It's better if you just give us instructions, Nami," Robin said softly. But her eyes were mandatory.

"But at least I have to see it!" she complained, now getting really upset.

"Guys..." Chopper interrupted with a weak shy voice that exposed the fact that he felt like he was being excluded and didn't really want to interfere. That caught Zoro's attention first. He had always had a soft spot for the furry little reindeer, specially when he was like this. So he forced his scowl to vanish and gave him a soft look that encouraged him to go on. "What's going on? Are we in danger?"

Sanji shut Zoro's answer down when he saw Nami's mouth struggling to mutter something. He got close to her lips to listen better, feeling there was something important she wanted to tell them but failing miserably as he didn't get a sound out of her.

"Nami, dear, what is it? What are you trying to tell us?"

He could see the effort she was putting in the way her frown creased and her lips kept moving with the hope something would come out of them. Drugs must be still having their effects on her.

"-est.."

"What was that again?" he encouraged her, rubbing a gentle circle on her shoulder with the palm of his hand.

"W-..."

Another frustrated silence and Sanji was seriously thinking of kicking Chopper to knock him out since he was apparently making a fuss behind him with Zoro trying to calm him down, which wasn't letting him properly hear what Nami wanted to say. Ugh, he _really_ should contain those impulses, Chopper was, like, the most adorable thing in the world, not to mention their emergency food supply, so he definitely shouldn't be thinking of harming him no matter how on edge he was. He switched his attention to Nami again, getting frustrated.

"Come o-"

"West."

"What?"

"We need to sail west, we need to go west! _West_!" Nami screeched, suddenly panicking and trying to stand up by herself while pushing Sanji aside. "Guys, we have to immediately go w-!"

Her sentence never made it completely through her parched lips as a sudden collision sent them all flying against the walls of the infirmary, Sanji barely catching Nami with protective hands to minimize her impact. He had to thank his gentleman instincts, they always seemed to be right. Well, not always- _Shit! Can't start thinking about this now!_

Another heavy collision shook them and Robin had to hold them all against the wall with sprouting arms that pinned them tight against the wooden surface so that they wouldn't end up colliding against the opposite side of the infirmary. After that second shock, nothing was steady anymore.

After that second collision, everything was chaos.

**TBC**

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**A/N:** Hi guys! Hope you've been liking the fic so far! I know, big cliffhanger hehe.. I'm sorry if the plot is being slow but I'm the kind who likes it to slowly develop and grow, specially when it comes to relationships and stuff like that! Let me know what you think! :D


	6. Chapter 6 - I Need You here

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**Chapter 6**

**I Need You Here**

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"Nami!"

The redhead had gotten out of his hold at some point when his head had slammed against wood and strength had rushed out of his body for a split second. She was trying to get out of the infirmary by herself with an unsteady pace but was thrown against the bed, dragging blood bags and tubes no longer attached to her body. Sanji was there to catch her and almost fell himself when another crash hit the Sunny, making him display a colourful range of curses and insults directed to no one in particular.

But Nami was trying to get out of his grasp again and Sanji pulled her closer in an attempt to keep her still, effectively keeping her arms and upper body trapped against his chest, something that had only ever happened in his best dreams but was now kind of irrelevant as it was happening out of desperation to keep her safe. _Desperation_. Fuck.

"Sanji, let me go! I need to get us out of here!" she ordered with half the force her voice should have imprinted.

"You can't in this state!" Sanji dared to object, his voice almost a plea. But the redhead still struggled and Sanji was beginning to seriously don't know what to do anymore. If she was a guy she would have already been knocked out for good, but he couldn't do such a thing to a woman... not even to keep her safe? Dammit, this thing had never been so complicated, he had always known what to do! But why not now? Why was he...? Nope, not going there.

"Chopper!" he called, looking for the little reindeer with a quick sweep of his eyes around the room until he found him trapped in Zoro's arms, which wrapped around him in a protective gesture while the swordsman stood weirdly still in the middle of the collisions, boring a hole in Sanji's forehead, something the blond didn't pay attention to as it was the last of his current concerns. "Sedate her! We need to immobilize her so that she doesn't get hurt, she can't be out there like this!"

"What the hell, Sanji! Don't you dare decide what I have to do!" Nami yelled, turning back at him to hit him in the head but finding no strength to do so as her body was starting to scream for rest. Then she turned to Chopper with a menacing look. "Chopper, don't you dare! You know you need me! You'd rather have to take care of me after this or find yourself with a whole hurt, or worse, dead crew?!"

The reindeer winced and Sanji was ready to break things as he saw his last hope slowly go away from their doctor's eyes.

"Chopper..." he pleaded, not knowing what to do. What the hell was he doing? He needed the reindeer to collaborate, he fucking needed him right now, he couldn't let Nami get in a worse condition just because he couldn't prote- "Damn it, Chopper, _she's your patient_!" he harshly yelled at him, quickly losing his temper.

Man, was Zoro pissed. He had seen it coming. But the desperation in the cook's eyes and voice... Fuck! What the fuck was he doing! He had always been over-protective over his ladies but... But... Why the hell did the way Sanji was acting feel so _wrong_?

"Look, Chopper, I think Sanji's right..." a soft voice next to him said. And somehow they managed to hear Robin even over the raging storm they were now trapped in. "And we need to hurry up."

In fact, it had only been a matter of seconds, it was likely that less than a minute had passed since the first shock, but still, each second counted now, and they were losing precious time.

"Robin, you too?" Nami exhaled, betrayed. "You need me!"

"And that's _exactly_ why you'll do as we say!" Sanji bursted, finally losing it as he carefully but forcefully put her in bed, receiving a scratch on the cheek as a reward as Nami uselessly tried to escape again. A vein was pulsing in Sanji's neck and Zoro thought it might just explode right there. "_Chopper!_" the cook roared, this time with a furious edge to it.

The reindeer still had doubts written all over his face, though. Sanji saw it and his face went from rage to desperation, from desperation to rage and back to despair until it dangerously reached the line Zoro couldn't stand, a ghost of defeat dancing somewhere in the blue of his irises. _Not again, not again, fucking not again_, _not now!,_ his mind furiously screamed. Then everything turned into a desperate plea gathered in the cook's eyes.

Zoro couldn't take it anymore. Before he reduced the infirmary to dust, he brusquely turned Chopper to face him with a snarl.

"Do as he says!" he ordered with as much restrain as he could, which was quite poor. The doctor looked up at him with fearful eyes, taken aback by the furiously aggressive expression in the swordsman's face. Zoro never talked to him like this.

Zoro tried to calm himself down. They didn't have much time and he knew it, not that he would forget with Robin's eyes murdering them all for all the precious seconds they were throwing away. He had to remind himself that somewhere on deck was a rubber idiot who'd drown like a damn hammer if someone didn't keep an eye on him.

"You know she can't do this, and if she goes up there she'll just end up hurting herself and getting that curly idiot hurt as well!"

He tried to make it sound like convincing reasoning but it really sounded like an order, and Chopper ended up nodding, gaining resolve as he struggled to get to his workplace in order to gather the sedatives he needed and falling to the ground two times as nothing was steady anymore.

"Immobilize her," he ordered in his best doctor voice.

Sanji nodded and tried to ignore the fact that the marimo had just hugely helped him there as he had no time to be thankful whatsoever. They needed to save their butts and they were already running late.

"Robin! Please go up and tell the rest we need to head west!" he said over his shoulder as he fought with Nami to keep her still.

Really, was he _fighting_ with Nami?

Robin let out a quick "yes" and he heard her leave the room in a rush, barely managing not to fall with the violent shocks.

Then his attention turned back to Nami only to see her eyes starting to get wet with tears of frustration. The confusion the remaining effects of the drugs caused probably had something to do with that small show of weakness as well.

Sanji's chest clenched at this and he felt like he couldn't look. Damn, he hated seeing women cry with all his might! More if he was the cause behind the tears. Fuck. But he forced his eyes on her, stubborn and decided. Nami was threatening him with bills and interests and whatnot but he had long disconnected and now his brain was only focused on pinning her down by the wrists and keeping her lower body still with one of his legs pressing her hips against the mattress. Fuck, he _hated_ himself for that! Was he really doing this to poor Nami? Was he really doing this to a woman? He forbid his brain to think and concentrated on adding strength to his hold since the redhead was still struggling and, damn, was she a strong woman, drugged up and all.

Sanji realized he was muttering something to her, telling her to please, _please_ stay still, and asking her for forgiveness all along. Not that she was listening to him at that point. She fiercely snarled at him, ordering him to let her go and losing her will as she slowly lost strength, but still fought. What the hell was Chopper doing, they didn't have all day!

Then realization came that his grip on her wrists was too strong, that he was probably hurting her. Not that he could loosen up a bit or she'd really escape but still... Shit, how was he...? And he realised his hands were trembling. His hands, his precious hands he was always so sure of, those hands that almost never doubted.

Fuck.

Something inside him told him that he was doing the right thing and that he was overreacting but every single bit of his instincts, the ones he had always trusted so much, screamed at him that it was wrong, that, for fuck's sake, he was forcing his will onto a lady, if not physically _hurting_ her! Seriously now, Sanji was ready to scream and kill something. Maybe himself.

Suddenly, a strong pair of hands darker than his appeared in his line of vision and held Nami's wrists from a lower point than him, the side of the tanned palms grazing his.

Sanji's head snapped up and met a furious steel eye glaring at him.

"I've got her," Zoro told him in a soft tone that didn't quite match his enraged expression. Maybe that's why Sanji retreated without complaining, leaving the resisting redhead to the swordsman.

He hadn't realized Zoro was still there. Didn't think he would stick there; he was needed outside. But he felt a wave of relief through his veins when he let his image sink in. Even when he was forcefully holding Nami down. Sanji released a breath he didn't even know he was holding and let a shaking hand wander through his golden locks, concentrating on making the overall trembling stop and feeling lightheaded and a bit sick.

_Thank God he's here, _he found himself thinking. And, much to his annoyance, he meant it.

Zoro tried to reduce the strain he was putting on Nami's wrists, they were really not at fault. But the rage inside him threatened to explode at some point and he was having a hard time not letting hell break loose right then and there. His hands had been _trembling_. _Sanji_'s hands had been trembling. Zoro clenched his jaw and forced himself to get that image out of his head, but he had seen it and the idea was disturbing and annoying and stupid and everything Zoro could say he hated, because that was _so not_ like the cook. He had had to restrain himself from pressing his own hands over Sanji's to stop the fucking trembling once and for all, but he had some self-control left and had reduced his impulses to simply replace the cook and make him get the fuck away, see if he got a hold of himself so that his hands would stay the fuck steady, which, much to his relieve, they were starting to do. At one point he just wondered what was his life when his current biggest desire and goal was to punch that blonde's face to the point of rearranging it until it was no longer recognisable. He mentally shook his head: not to that point maybe, he liked the cook's fa- _Wait_, what the fuck was that?!

Another hit made the whole ship shake violently and they all had trouble getting a grasp of something steady not to fall where the impact led them. Chopper was cursing when he got to Nami's side with a syringe full of a weird-looking liquid. He shot an imperative look at Zoro, who ignored Nami's cussing and threats and gave the doctor room to inject the sedative into the redhead's system while he kept her still. Only a few seconds passed until she stopped struggling and slowly closed her eyes with a confused and betrayed look.

"W-west... we need... need to... We-st..." she managed with a hoarse voice.

"We know," Zoro answered, reassuringly, even if he didn't know if the redhead had heard him.

"Help me tie her down so that she doesn't get hurt," Chopper ordered.

Zoro looked at Sanji when he approached them again and did as he was told, no expression whatsoever on his face as he helped the swordsman until Nami was securely tied down to the mattress. The blonde hadn't looked him in the eye once, even if Zoro's own gaze was insisting enough for him to have noticed from miles away.

"Okay," Chopper said when he was satisfied. Another collision with what they supposed was a huge wave sent them flying to different directions. The reindeer looked scared but he didn't hesitate when he looked back at them after finding a secure place to hold on to. "Now run to deck, you two. They need you up there so go do something. I stay with her. Out!"

Zoro and Sanji both nodded at the same time and stumbled to the door, almost falling on each other. Sanji closed the door behind them, as useless as that gesture was at that moment, and went ahead of Zoro. The swordsman wasn't exactly surprised when he registered his own hand flying to the cook, grabbing his front shirt and tie and aggressively slamming Sanji to the nearest wall, knocking the air out of him and approaching the blonde until his nose was almost touching his. Only for a moment. A foot planted on his chest reminded him of the cook's talents and he was forced back to give him some space, but he still managed to keep a rock-like arm against the blonde's chest, still pinning him to the wall.

"The fuck's that for?!" Sanji hissed, his eyes pissed off as ever.

"Pull your shit together," Zoro ordered with an edge of a threat in his voice.

"And what the fuck does that mean, moss-head?! You got a problem with something? The moss you store in your skull is too thick for any healthy brain cell to grow there?!"

Zoro was really losing it. _Nearly_ lost it there. But he didn't train and meditate for nothing, he reminded himself. _Stay calm, stay calm, stay calm_... was his mantra as his eye searched for any signs of everything he hated to see in Sanji's blue one. But it wasn't there. Only that pissed-off look he always seemed to wear (when he didn't wear the mocking one, that is) when he looked at Zoro. His ordinary self was staring back at him. Not someone he didn't recognise, not some defeated stranger, but the Sanji he knew. Even though he had seen that look just moments before. Even though his hands, always steady, had been trembling. Dammit, how much of a mindfuck could the cook be?! How fast could he put on his mask when he lost it? Was it even a mask? Zoro told his mind to shut the fuck up and summarised what he needed the cook to know in one sentence.

"I _need_ you here, cook."

Zoro thought he had caught a glimpse of... something in Sanji's iris. But then the blonde blinked and it was gone.

"I _am_ here, moss-head," was the short reply. Short but convinced. Short but steady and firm. Short but badass and defying. Short but _confident_. Everything Sanji was meant to be. Zoro almost let a relieved sigh out. Almost. A weird weight in his chest and his pride stopped the instinctive action in the process.

"You better be," he said while releasing his hold. Sanji took the opportunity and shoved him away helping himself with the foot he had already planted in Zoro's chest, earning a murdering look from the swordsman.

"It's about fucking time we got going."

Sanji saw Zoro nod but he was already heading the way out. What the fuck had that been? What the fuck, what the fuck, _what the fuck_? Why had he suddenly felt naked in front of the swordsman just there? What the hell had that look the marimo had given him been? Why had his heart clenched into a fist when Zoro had told him he needed him there? Fucking _needed_ him? Really? Just, _really_, what the hell had that been!

His thoughts stopped mid-track as he put his first foot outside and almost fell on the process as a wave swept the deck with the force of the whole storm.

"Shit!"

Zoro was right beside him then. They both stood still for a brief amount seconds, planted, as they watched Mother Nature's show display before them.

Sanji suddenly felt the fear of not making it through. Zoro gaped as he tried to get around the fact that they'd have to face it without Nami. And both brains seemed to connect when they reached the conclusion that they were utterly fucked. That was by far the worst storm they had ever seen coming. They were already in it, and it was terrible, but they were still far from its center. They could see it coming, a huge wave approaching from the horizon, the sky raging on them, thunder and lightning everywhere, rain falling with so much force that it hurt their skin, almost bruising, the ocean a fucking _hell_ of giant waves that hadn't left a single spot of stability anywhere, the Sunny barely and magically maintaining balance in the middle of that nightmare.

"What have we gotten into...?" Sanji barely spoke, his voice slightly trembling.

Zoro turned to him and as Sanji slowly set his gaze on his, they both knew this was going to be tough and shitty and that they were probably going to die. Great. But just as certain as that, they came to the silent agreement that they'd fight as they always did, and sealed their unspoken promise with a determinate glance.

Zoro turned to the deck and fully faced the storm as he completely walked out, looking for his nakama and hearing their shouts and orders but not seeing them as the rain was too thick for them to distinguish pretty much anything near them.

"We are sailing west!" he roared, hoping they would hear. Some confirming shouts told him they had somehow caught that over the deafening sound of the storm engulfing them. Sanji was by his side when they heard a cry coming from somewhere on deck.

"Luffy has fallen overboard!"

Really, now, could his day get any worse?

**TBC**

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**A/N: **sooooo, another cliffhanger! Sorry about that! hehe

Working on the next chapters, I'm trying to update weekly! Hope you liked it! Please, review if you want, it really helps! :D


	7. Chapter 7 - The Storm

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**Chapter 7**

**The Storm**

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That was a mother of a storm. The fucking queen of storms, hands down. Zoro couldn't picture it getting any worse than this.

His hand shot to get a grasp of Sanji's arm when the blonde darted away from him the moment he heard their captain's death call. He lost him and only managed to yell at him to come back before the curtain of water currently hitting on them engulfed his silhouette. Shit.

Sanji spotted a familiar figure as he approached whoever that was, running at top speed. He caught an elbow and turned the man to him, a familiar long nose almost grazing his as Usopp jumped in the air in shock at the unexpected contact. He hadn't seen him coming, but then again, he couldn't have in the middle of this hell.

"Luffy?!" Sanji asked urgently, shaking his arm to encourage his friend's brain to work fast.

"He fell!"

"I know! Where?" Sanji clarified with a snarl. He really didn't have time for this. A huge wave collided and wiped the deck in the blink of an eye and Sanji found himself gripping for dear life at the mast and holding Usopp by his side, effectively preventing him from being thrown off the rail. Dammit, they were lucky they weren't all already swept away and drowning in the ocean. He couldn't begin to understand how Sunny was even managing to stay afloat. His attention snapped to a very terrified Usopp coughing his lungs out after choking on a considerable amount of water.

"Usopp, where did he fall?!" Sanji insisted with a hoarse yell that ended up with a cough and salty water escaping his mouth. Usopp managed to point left and Sanji nodded, pulling the long-nose close by his nape to give some last orders. "Tell the others we are going West! Tell Franky I don't give a shit about how he gets us the fuck out of here, but once I get Luffy back, course is West!"

He didn't wait for the other's assent as he ran to the rail, getting rid of his tie and jacket and kicking his shoes goodbye since he knew he'd never find them again once he lost sight of them. He heard someone call his name over the roaring of waves, wind, the fucking flood and thunder, but his head was already breaking down the ocean's current hell of a surface, a painful hit against his skin as freezing cold took over his body.

He couldn't even manage a stroke before he was brutally dragged back by the force of a wave underwater, his body violently slamming against what he assumed was Sunny's hull. For a moment he lost all sense of direction and self-awareness, as the only thing that existed around him that his brain was able to process was black, sharp pain and the damn current pinning him against his own ship underwater, his limbs useless against such force unless he regained some concentration. Which he did as soon as he could, forcing his brain to work out a way to get him out of there and seemingly succeeding when his legs received the order to start moving for dear life and they did, propelling himself until he managed to get his head out in the air, gasping for oxygen only to be dragged down again by another gigantic wave. Second try earned better results as he managed to actually inhale something that wasn't salty water. He did his best to keep himself afloat, his eyes scanning his surroundings for any sign of his captain but not finding any.

The Sunny was suddenly quite far away but he could still see it and get back in time if needed. Shit, with the ocean being a bitch like this it didn't really matter that Luffy had fallen down the left side of the ship, he could be anywhere by now, just hopefully not dead yet. Sanji growled in exasperation, his heart drumming in his chest while his lungs tried to work a stable rhythm that allowed him to not choke.

"Luffy!" he called at the top of his lungs, really not giving the poor things a little consideration for their hard work in trying to keep him alive. He received no answer, not that he expected one. Damn, he was _so_ getting his captain back and kicking him for good measure when he managed to find him and get him on deck!

"_Luffy!_" he tried again, his voice starting to get hoarse.

Not wasting any more time, he drowned again, kicking with everything he had to allow himself to move against the ocean's will and forcing his eyes open even if they started itching. It was so dark though, it was almost pitch black. How was he supposed to get a glimpse of Luffy with his equally black hair? If it had been blonde or reddish, or _green_ for that matter, it would have been easier to spot him. It wouldn't have made a big difference but at least it would have helped. His lungs pleaded him for a break and Sanji kicked towards what he hoped was the surface, since he had practically lost all sense of direction.

Gasping, he realized the Sunny was nearby again, barely fighting the giant waves that sent the ship up and down at a dangerous pace. He just hoped no one else would have fallen from deck.

"Damn you, Luffy..." he muttered before submerging again. It was too dark, he could barely see his own hands moving in front of him. His lungs were burning again, but he forced himself under water yet a bit more, determined to get Luffy back at all costs. He knew he wouldn't be able to face the crew ever again if he didn't get on board with Luffy. So he wouldn't go back without him. Simple as that. When his head reached the surface again, a huge violent wave crashed against his face and sent sharp pain inside his ear, which suddenly felt like it had bursted. Sanji let out a groaned gasp but decided to ignore it and submerged one more time, which only resulted in his ear bursting into deafening pain. Which he ignored again. He had to find him... Where the hell was the idiot he had for a captain, damn it?

Suddenly there was a breathtaking bolt of lightning that sent reflections through the water. And in between the white and blue momentarily sparkling in the blackness, there was a flash of familiar red, almost like the one Luffy usually dressed in. Sanji's heart skipped a beat and his legs kicked with everything they had to get to the point where he had last seen it, now engulfed by blackness again. _Please, let it be Luffy. Please, let it be him_.

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Zoro clutched at the railing, his knuckles white with the pressure, when a gigantic wave crashed against the Thousand Sunny and swept everything on deck, hitting his back full force and threatening to throw him overboard. He waited for the never ending amount of water to reverse again and regained the breath he'd been holding. That had been close. He looked around to see if everyone was okay, and as if the unforgiving skies had read his mind and decided to be lenient with him for a change, a bolt of lighting lighted his surroundings up, allowing him to brush his gaze along the deck to check if everyone was still on it. When he mentally checked on them, he glared at the raging ocean again, blinking to get salt and heavy rain drops out of his eye. No sign of blond hair or rubbery limbs yet. Shit, it had already been too long! What the hell was the idiot cook doing?!

He suddenly spotted something far away but his eye proved him wrong when he concentrated on it, infuriatingly letting him know it had just been his imagination. Nothing there. Nothing anywhere. Aside from huge raging waves that were currently actively working on making the sea their personalized pure hell. Roaring thunder deafened him for an instant just after he had had to close his eyes when a bolt of lightning threatened to make him blind. He was starting to get annoyed now.

An unexpected painful loud crack reached his ears just as they started working again and he turned around in time to see the mast break. And it would have fallen down hadn't Franky made a show of inhuman strength to keep it in place to later secure it with fast precise motions involving lots of iron sheets and nails the size of his fist. That reminded him why Franky was the best shipwright they could have ever found. They had to give him huge credit for that. Once he was sure the cyborg had the situation under control and the mast was temporarily fixed, he turned again to scour the sea. He hadn't missed Franky's expression while putting the mast back into place, though. It spoke volumes as to how screwed they were. Which was _a lot_.

Zoro frowned as his brain debated on what to do. They were _really_ fucked, the mast had probably been their last warning. Where the hell were their captain and cook? What was taking Sanji so long? As much as he dreaded admitting it, Sanji was probably the best swimmer their crew counted with and he trusted his legs to propel him against the waves, even as monstrous as they were but... Ugh, he had to put a little bit of faith on the cook. He could do it and it would be terribly disrespectful of Zoro to doubt him.

He gave him five more minutes. If he wasn't back within that time, the swordsman himself would jump in and look for those two idiots. Not that he was worried for them or anything. Nope. Noooot the case.

"I can see them!"

Zoro turned around with an aggressive gesture that put his secured position in danger for a moment as a wave hit him once again. He saw Usopp gesturing over everyone, trying to get the crew's attention, probably not sure if his call would reach them or if they could even see him or not.

Zoro stomped against the current and miraculously reached the other side alive and still on deck, where Usopp was already giving Franky some indications. Zoro all but threw himself against the railing, almost falling over. His gaze swept the surface and finally saw Sanji dragging Luffy (who was clutching to his precious straw hat even when unconscious, bless him) against the waves and towards the ship. Zoro had to suppress a victorious proud grin and instead leaned in even more, taking advantage of the monstrous swaying the ship had been forced into to reach for the cook when their side almost touched the water surface. His hand grasped the back of Sanji's shirt and Franky, who had had the same idea, took a hold of Luffy. When the ship rocked to the other side and their railing lifted almost vertically in the air, they both dragged their nakama with them, not letting go until they were pulled to deck. With the new inclination Zoro lost footing and both him and the cook flew down to the other side, luckily crashing against the other railing instead of falling overboard, which would've sucked.

Zoro cleared his dizzy head and realized Sanji was choking beside him, face down. A sudden rush made him turn Sanji around and plant his hand against the cook's chest with force as he slammed him against the wooden deck, effectively making him cough and spit water out of his system. Then, he fisted the front of his shirt and helped him stand upright in a half sitting position so that he wouldn't choke again.

"Hey."

With the wet long blonde strands covering his face he couldn't get a glimpse of his expression, being only left with hoarse painful-to-hear coughs as an indication of Sanji's condition. So Zoro took the cook's jaw in his strong hand and forced Sanji to face him and fall under his scrutinizing gaze.

"Hey. You alright?"

Sanji slapped his hand and coughed away while nodding reassuringly and grabbing the railing so that he could provide some stability for himself. Zoro's hand wandered in the air around the cook's frame, ready to catch him if he slipped... or something. A protective gesture neither of them seemed to notice since they were already busy trying to survive this hell.

"Where's the idiot?" Sanji managed with a torn hoarse voice.

Zoro looked up and saw Brook taking Luffy to the infirmary, his rubbery slim body hanging numbly in his bony arms. Only his tortured whiney expression told them he was still alive and kicking.

"Taken care of. He's fine," Zoro informed, relaxing a bit when he heard the blond's breathing a little more stable.

A sudden shock violently pinned them against the railing and their breaths were caught until a gigantic stream of water passed them by. Zoro realized he'd been protectively grabbing Sanji's arm with enough strength as to stop his circulation but the blond was too occupied coughing his lungs out to bother. He probably didn't even know what was going on anymore. Not that Zoro had a clue either.

Then he heard a screech overpowering the thunder and both his and Sanji's head snapped in search for its owner. Usopp was pointing somewhere with his knees trembling enough as to clack against each other. He was already soaked but it wouldn't be exactly surprising if he had pissed himself, not with the expression he was currently wearing. Their gazes switched to follow the long-nose's and their eyes grew wide at the sight.

Water 7's tsunami was a joke. It was the most hilarious and innocent joke compared to the monster that was currently heading towards them at increasing speed, breaking through the waves that had already been causing the Strawhat's so much trouble to stay afloat, as if it was a knife cutting through warmed up butter.

"Shit..." Sanji's voice was barely a whisper, almost a breath. Well, at least he managed some light cursing out; Zoro didn't even seem to find words or voice in his throat. He just sat there, eye wide open as his heart froze in place. It was only on really rare occasions that Zoro acknowledged death. He definitely had back in Thriller Bark. But back there, he had been sure he'd leave an alive crew behind, so he hadn't really been afraid. No, shit, he _had,_ he realized now. He had been _terrified_ when he saw the cook step in front of him to take his place instead. It had been quite a peaceful thing to do, waiting for death to come in order to save his loved ones, that until the biggest idiot he had ever met had stumbled in front of him, looking like a total wreck but giving the vibe of a badass motherfucker.

Zoro could count the times he'd experienced true fear with his fingers. That had been one of them. Feeling his body paralyzed as his brain realized Sanji was going to die for his sake, for the sake of his dream. And what about his fucking dream? What about All Blue? The fear had been strong enough so that he almost didn't do anything to avoid it. Almost. A primal instinct made him stand and knock the cook out, meeting his betrayed eyes as Sanji fell down, pale hand barely brushing his tanned arm. The only thing he could feel was relief since he knew the blonde wouldn't die on him. Then, calm again. He hadn't feared _his_ death. He had feared his captain's one and he had been terrified about Sanji's. Simple as that.

So now, when reality hit him that not only he was most likely going to die but also his whole crew, he almost lost all strength left in him. They _couldn't_ fight that. What was coming was too much, even for them, even after two years of training to become the strongest. What did they amount to, now?

Sanji's cursing brought him back and his eye followed the cook's to see what the hell else was utterly wrong.

And all hope faded.

Right behind the approaching monster of a tsunami there was a line painting the horizon way higher than it should have been. Much like if the sky had been cut in half. Just that it wasn't the sky, nor a game colours and edges that were playing with them. Behind the potential cause of the Strawhat's death was something worse. That couldn't even be called a wave, that was monstrous, something his mind would have never pictured hadn't he seen it with his own eye. It wasn't even a wave, it was a fucking _wall_, it was the fucking ocean having decided to fuck gravity and stand vertical, eating the sky. Fucking Sea Kings would've looked like insects swimming in it. Not that they could survive _that_ either. He could tell it was still really far away but that was hardly a consolation since, if it was already this terrifying from far, he didn't even want to know what it would be like when up close. Though they'd only see it if they survived the first hit, coming at worrying speed. Even if they were lucky enough, they weren't going to survive the second one. It wasn't the possibility of death toying with them anymore, it was the certainty that it was three steps away of knocking at their door with no way to rewind their upcoming fate.

"Shit, Zoro..."

His bleary gaze focused on the cook, who only looked back when the swordsman had settled his eye on him, a numb expression on his face. Sanji's one was simply terrified.

"We're not making it this time..." Sanji chirped with a lost voice. Zoro could see he was looking for a negative in his own steel eye, but he couldn't bring himself to mutter one. He really couldn't. He suddenly felt helpless, helpless and small. He weakly shook his head, not leaving the cook's eye, which was the only thing he could focus on right then.

The only thing that softened the utter despair he was feeling. Sanji's eyes were still bright blue despite the storm. The kind of blue one dreamed of when thinking of the sea. The kind of blue that radiated hope, warmth and mirth. Just that all of those emotions were lost in the cook's eye and it just felt wrong. But it was still Sanji's blue. The blue he had come to know and the blue that, just then Zoro realized, had come to be his favourite shade.

Zoro blinked away his line of thought, not really sure where it was going, when Sanji opened his mouth to speak over the thunder and hell they were in. So he looked directly at his lips, trying to figure out his words with a pang in his chest. He didn't even know why it felt so urgent but it did. He was terrified, he didn't know if those were the last words he'd ever hear Sanji say. Or anyone for that matter.

Yeah, Roronoa Zoro was scared, not knowing what to do. Terribly so. And for the first time he wasn't really ashamed to admit it to himself. Not that he was gonna admit it to the world, he still was Roronoa Fucking Zoro, but he could recognize fear when he felt it. And now his body was paralyzed because of it, not being able to do anything but concentrate on the man in front of him as he spoke his words.

And, just as if he had a hidden button in his body he didn't know of, it was exactly the cook doing something stupid that dragged him out of his stupor and kicked his body into motion. Again. Just like in Thriller Bark.

"Sorry," was the word.

Zoro blinked at this.

What.

The.

Actual.

Fuck.

The defeated look was there again and Zoro wasn't even sure what the tight apologize was for, but there was only so much he could do for not assuming the meaning. And his eyes. His blue eyes were glassy as the only thing he could find in them was guilt.

_No._

He was so not going to let that happen. _Nothing_ was his fault. And the idiot was blaming his every bone and Zoro couldn't take it, not even for a moment. The thought of them maybe dying and Sanji doing so while thinking it was his fucking fault pressed all the right buttons and Zoro just snapped, aggressively reaching for him and clutching both his cheeks with his big calloused hands, forcing Sanji to look up at him as he closed the distance between them and crashed his forehead against the cook's, see if the motion helped get through his thick skull that nothing of what was happening to them was his fucking fault. He was about to yell exactly that to his face... when another yell froze them both in place, the words stuck in Zoro's throat.

"Grab anything you can, bros! Coup de Burst is ready to send us flying!"

Steel fixed in cerulean blue, they just stood there, boring a hole in each other's irises as realization sunk in. And they were nose touching nose, Zoro's mouth slightly agape as just a second ago he had been about to yell his lungs out.

"Shit," was all Sanji could muster out.

Usopp and Robin ran inside, and they already heard the engines working against the nature as they were about to fly. Zoro's brain immediately kicked into motion and he stood up to get inside since that was the safer option, but the air was knocked out of his lungs as a kick sent him backwards and pinned him against the railing by the hip in a bruising hold. His head snapped towards Sanji as he formed a deep pissed-off frown only to be met by Sanji's deeper one.

"No time," Sanji explained as if he was giving him an order. Which he pretty much was, taking into account how his leg had him pinned and incapable of moving away without a fight. The message was quite clear. And Sanji decided to make it translucent by aggressively grabbing one of his hands and leading it to the railing so that he got a tight hold of it as Sanji followed suit and did the same, never leaving Zoro's eye as a warning.

Zoro should be grateful Sanji had stopped him in time or else he would be flying away of the ship with nothing to hold onto.

The blonde had just grasped the railing himself when a sudden burst violently knocked their bodies almost out of deck. They had to clutch for dear life as the ship was sent flying God knows where, more violently than ever, cutting the air and the storm, the heavy rain drops hurting their skin and the wind making it impossible for them to breathe. Sanji's leg proved itself useful keeping Zoro in place even when he should have already fallen overboard with the force leading them. But Sanji seemed to lose strength as it was all gathered in his lower body to pin the swordsman down, so Zoro led one of his stronger arms to cover the cook's chest and get a hold of the railing further ahead, effectively pinning Sanji's torso in the process with his forearm.

Zoro fought to get some air inside his lungs without a reward and finally got to the point where he could only tightly close his eyes and hope and wish and pray – keep in mind he _never_ prayed- that Coup de Burst would make them fly high enough as not to collide with the approaching hell of a tsunami they had just been facing, that hope an endless mantra inside his brain as he really wished they could get out of this one alive. He needed the cook alive to kick his ass later on, he would be really pissed off if he didn't get to do it before he died. The fact that his potential last thought was spared on the cook didn't even bother him anymore.

If he had opened his eye right then, he would have seen Sanji's fixed on his face, wide and filled with something neither of them could have pinpointed, his mind totally blank as his brain could only register the weird heat of Zoro's arm pressed against his damp chest and the fact that he felt a little safer, his leg unconsciously pressing harder against Zoro's hip.

He didn't want the stupid marimo flying away.

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**A/N: **soooooooo... More cliffhangers! Yay! (Sorry about that)

So, where do you think they'll land? What's going to happen now? Are you liking it so far? Awww, Zoro got protective hehehe And Sanji had to save Luffy... again.

Let me know what you think if you have time, it really does help! I struggled a bit with this chapter since there were so many things going on in the middle of that storm and maybe it gets confusing at some point, I don't know, you tell me... As always there are more chapters to come, let's see what happens next! :D


	8. Chapter 8 - Grateful To Be Alive

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**Chapter 8**

**Grateful To Be Alive**

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Zoro put his trousers back in place from where they had been lowered to with a silent sigh. It had left some bad bruising after all. A big one for that matter, crossing its way through his hips from side to side in an abrasive trail.

Not that he blamed the cook, it was that or him probably flying away, no telling where he could have ended up, that if he ended up alive at all. Not that he couldn't have taken care of himself, that would be absurd of course, but, well, Sanji's grip had been of help. So had been his grip against the blonde's chest, and he was pretty sure his torso hadn't gone unbruised either. So yeah, they were even.

Zoro's brain was bugged when he realized they weren't, really. Sanji had pissed him off big time just before they had been catapulted across the storm and he hadn't had the opportunity to take his revenge, that consisting of kicking Sanji's ass, if he could choose. It had been three days already.

They had escaped the eye of the storm but that had been a really close call. He probably was right when assuming the whole crew had reached the conclusion that they would die that day at some point. Even Luffy. They really had to thank Franky for getting them out of that hell when everyone else's brains had helpfully shut down. If it hadn't been for Franky's capacity to keep his cool even when he also believed it was most likely the end for them, they would have really been buried somewhere under the vast ocean by now.

After that, it had been three days of heavy storm, thunder and pretty damn bad swell, but hey, after what they'd been through right before, none of them complained but instead put their hands and/or brains to work, depending on each member's stronger habilities. There were more pairs of hands than useful brains.

They hadn't been able to sleep much as only one of them was allowed to take a nap at a time and the swinging and banging of the ship didn't help conceal sleep at all. By the time they reached a shore, they were all ready to fall face first wherever they were standing and sleep for a week.

Sanji had kept running around in between survival chores basically involving keeping the Sunny afloat and heading west, to inject the crew some quick caloric food that kept them going, cooking in between the bumps and falls like a pro but cursing all the while, one time almost burning himself when he lost control during a specially bad horde of waves.

At first they had been directed by Franky, who knew how to work Sunny to full potential. On day two Nami had managed to threaten Chopper into letting her out of the infirmary and stop sedating her and she had organised the crew the way it had to be done, making everything easier as everyone's tasks were reduced to obeying yelled angry orders that actually saved their asses.

Well, everything had been easier for everyone except for two poor souls. The first being Sanji as he had almost had a heart attack when he saw Nami out in the storm in her weakened state and had been keeping a protective eye on her while he did the rest of his job, which only made him even more weary if that was possible, both psychologically and physically.

It also made him risk his own life a few times when getting her ass saved from some crushing big wave that wiped their deck more often than not. On one particular occasion he was thrown in the sea and had barely made it back against the current. That psychologic stress added to the non-stop running around to keep the ship sailing, which only brought extreme tiredness to everyone's bodies after hours of battling against the storm without seeming to get to an easy escape. And for Sanji there was the plus of keeping the crew fed in between the mess, barely getting time to rest. Zoro wondered if he had slept at all during those three days. Probably not. Scratch that, _definitely_ not.

Speaking of which, Zoro was the other specially sulking soul on board. I mean, they were all wasted but, man, Sanji was pretty much done for by the time they reached shore, and as a consequence so was Zoro. Sanji taking the extra burden of protecting Nami everywhere she was meant Zoro keeping an extra eye for Sanji since the cook didn't seem to be doing himself this particular favour. And Sanji wearing himself off by running around obeying orders and surviving waves brushing the ship while making escapades to cook for the starving tired crew, doing so while fighting to keep balance as nothing seemed to be stable for three fucking days in a row, and him apparently not sleeping at all if the bags under his eyes were anything to go by, instantly made Zoro want to have Robin's habilities to add a few more eyes to his own body so that he could use them to keep on Sanji, since one didn't seem enough.

When at one point Sanji had fallen off board he didn't even think before making to jump into the ocean only to be taken aback by Robin's splutter of arms. Which helpfully reminded him that Sanji was far from being weak and needing help at every misstep he took. That didn't stop him from worrying over him and consequently realizing he was over-worrying for the cook, which only annoyed him to no end until his brain switched off and he was only left to follow orders and unconsciously check on Sanji because that seemed to be a shitty habit he had taken over the last few days. For which there was no cure he knew of, which made him annoyed yet again. That resulted in him being generally annoyed the whole time, his scowl deepening to levels the crew had never seen before. Not that anyone had noticed, they were busy enough keeping themselves alive.

All in all, they had been in hell for three days and the crew was now exhausted, two of its main pillars completely worn out, even though they weren't getting any rest anytime soon since Sanji was already in the kitchen cooking something for lunch for everyone to regain energies, since they hadn't had breakfast that morning and it was the first time in days they stood on relatively stable ground.

As for Zoro, he was currently being supervised by Chopper, who had insisted on checking on every crew member for any injuries they hadn't taken care of in between the chaos, starting with Sanji so that he could go and fulfill his duty as a chef.

"You're all good, Zoro," Chopper announced, patting his thigh with a relieved smile as Zoro finished zipping his pants and putting his haramaki on. "This is some pretty bad bruising but it's as bad as it's going to be."

Zoro nodded and sighed, his gaze falling on the redhead resting on the infirmary bed. She wasn't asleep yet, she had barely laid down a few minutes ago. She was now curiously looking at him. Most likely she hadn't had the decency of looking away even when Zoro's pants were far too lowered. Not that he cared.

"How did you get that?" she asked. Her voice sounded dead tired but if she had been able to endure the last few days leading the crew; that meant she was healing fine.

"None of your business," Zoro frowned.

Nami snorted and crossed her arms under her chest, making it generously stand upwards, a gesture Sanji would have surely swooned over, but didn't ask anymore, just raising an eyebrow at him. She was too tired to argue, which was good, because he was too.

"You should rest," Zoro commented distractedly as he patted Chopper's pink hat and received a smile from the reindeer. Then he looked pointedly at Nami, a neutral expression in his face. "We don't want the love cook to have a heart attack after seeing you not resting _again_."

Nami raised both her eyebrows in mild surprise when she realized the "you should rest" part was directed at her and not the reindeer. Definitely not the kind of exchange she and the stubborn swordsman usually had. If anything, she expected Zoro to be giving her shit for laying down and not doing her damn job. What picked her attention the most, though, was the half-assed joke about Sanji. A smug smile Zoro didn't like one bit brightened her tired features for a moment.

"Worrying about him, are we?" she teased, a malicious glint in her dark eyes. "Just marry already, you two."

"Shut the fuck up, witch! Like hell I'd worry about that idiot dart-brow!" Zoro growled. The sea witch was getting the best of him since she was a pro at getting under his skin. Not as much as Sanji, though. That was most definitely impossible. But either way, Nami knew how to royally piss him off with the same ease as she emptied your pockets and flew away with _your_ money, charging _you_ with astronomic interests in the process.

"Zoro, that's rude!" Chopper scowled with a pouting expression that looked more adorable than actually scary or angry. Zoro blinked at the reindeer, who had seemingly decided to take Sanji's place when the blonde wasn't there to defend his ladies.

"You heard Chopper, Zoro, watch your mouth," Nami mocked with an evil grin that did wonders to add to Zoro's annoyance. "Or I'll have you charged with interests for your foul mouth."

Zoro cringed and gritted his teeth as he stomped out of the room before he did something he later regretted to Nami, or worse, ended up with his debts dangerously having escalated to painful figures he didn't want to think of.

"Tell Luffy to come in after you!" Chopper ordered. Zoro only nodded.

He heard Nami yawn and then whine as the gesture seemed to have caused her some pain. Zoro's expression softened as he walked away. If he was honest with himself, Nami had done great over the past few days, fighting the storm and getting them out of there even though she was probably under serious pain.

It was easy to forget she had had her stomach pierced and was still healing when seeing her determined expression and hearing her annoying voice giving orders. That if you weren't putting special attention on a certain blonde, who sure as hell hadn't forgot about if for one second.

Zoro wondered what would have happened if she hadn't been injured when they were hit by the worst part of the storm. They would have probably escaped before it all ended up as messed up as it had, without major harm. Hell, they wouldn't have even gotten in that mess to start with had Nami been there, that much he was pretty sure of. But she had been drugged and healing, understandably not able to do anything.

Now their ship was a wreck, they were docked in a shitty shore in an island they hadn't even inspected yet and they were all worn out and exhausted. Oh, yeah, and their cook had switched to a special idiot-mode, silently blaming himself for everything that had happened, and Zoro was the only one who had realized that, which only made it worse, since if the rest of the crew had seen a glimpse of what Zoro had, they could've all teamed up to jointly kick his ass and get that stupid idiotic idea out of his stupid idiotic brain.

No such luck. Zoro was alone in his fight against the cook's stupidity and he still had his ass to kick by himself. He just had to find the moment. Yeah, what about _right now_? It would only take him the time of getting inside the galley, yelling a few insults regarding his stupid attitude and good-for-nothing brain and then proceed to kick his ass for good. That worked. Pretty simple. Before he could _really_ think of what he was doing, he was entering the galley with a loud thump of the door as he opened it unceremoniously.

"Cook."

Said cook was showing him his back, which appeared to be quite tense as he stood in front of the pantry with both hands on his hips, his legs barely parted as he seemed to be deeply in thought. He hadn't even heard him come in.

Something in his posture, though, told Zoro it wasn't time to kick ass.

"Cook," he called again, all trace of annoyance left behind as he substituted it for a little bit more strength in his voice, see if he caught his attention.

Sanji's shoulders jolted and Zoro realized just how tense the blonde was, which made him frown. Well, not that it was that strange after three days of not sleeping at all and wearing himself out. Sanji slightly turned his face to look at him and acknowledge his presence only to turn to the pantry again. Zoro automatically walked to stand by his side.

"Oi, crap-cook, what's wrong?"

Sanji sneered at him and Zoro smirked, proud that he had managed to piss him off. That would never stop being fun.

"We're running out of food supplies," Sanji informed, his voice hoarse and weary. He had gulped lots of sea water and choked on them over the last few days so his throat had seen better days. He looked annoyed but his features leaned more on the _really_ worried side. "Like, _really_ running out of them."

Zoro shrugged. "Well, we'll go buy some in this island once we get to explore it. There must be a town or something like that nearby."

Sanji absently nodded, but he wasn't into the conversation anymore. His brain had switched on deciding what he could gather together to cook for lunch. His frown only accentuated the dark bags under his eyes and his hollowed cheeks. Zoro mirrored his worried expression without neither of them noticing when he realized just how tired the cook was. He was surprised the blond was standing and up for cooking instead of fainting right there and then, sleep deprived and physically exhausted as he was, no matter how strong Sanji was. Zoro could only assume his own face didn't look much better since he had also seen better days and he could use a month's sleep right then, but the cook was really looking like shit.

"So, are you going to stay here enjoying the view or are you planning on getting out of my kitchen?"

Zoro came back to reality and realized he was dozing off. Ugh, he really needed sleep. Suddenly, his stomach growled with about as much grace as an elephant snorting. Sanji raised an amused and at the same time disgusted eyebrow at him.

"Come on, fuck off and I'll cook something good. Just make sure to stay awake until you eat or we really won't be able to wake you up once you're asleep," Sanji prompted with a surprisingly gentle tone. His hand followed his words when it lightly shoved Zoro's shoulder so that he'd obey. Zoro frowned at this but did as he was told, leaving the cook to his own devices but not sparing the worried look he sent him before closing the door behind.

"Luffy, you shouldn't really be sleeping, try to stay awake until the shit-cook calls for lunch," Zoro said as he lightly kicked his captain's side. Luffy was sprawled on the damp deck grass, already starting to snore. The kick woke him up instantly, making him jump up, ready to face any danger, used as he had gotten over the last three days. Just that this time there was no danger. The sky was still light grey, the atmosphere was cool and there was a bit of a drizzle, but aside of that everything was calm.

Zoro sighed. Everyone's nerves were crisped and ready to explode, Luffy instantly waking up when called was clear proof of that.

"Everything's okay," Zoro reassured him when he saw the confused look in the raven boy's face. His own voice sounded extremely tired even to him.

"Oh, right! Sanji's making lunch! Dont' worry, I'll be ready! I'm starving! Sanji, luuuuuunch-!"

Luffy's battle cry as he charged towards the galley was cut when Zoro's leg got in the way of his feet, making his captain land face first against the floor.

"Luffy, just for once, leave the cook alone. If what you want is to have lunch instead of attending his funeral, that is."

Luffy blinked at him, visibly alarmed when being forced to face the possibility of not being greeted by Sanji's cooking ever again. Zoro rolled his eyes at his captain's antics and stepped away, confident that Luffy wouldn't get near the kitchen until Sanji gave him permission to. At least for the time being.

"By the way, Chopper wants to see you."

"Going!"

Zoro sat down against a bit of the railing that wasn't damaged. Franky had already busied himself with repairing the harmed Sunny. Damn, the ship was nearly a wreck. No wonder the cyborg hadn't allowed himself the time to rest even when they safely could for first time in days. Usopp was dragging himself here and there with a face that suggested he was about to faint in a second but still carried anything Franky asked him to. That was as much as he could do in his current state but the long-nose would be working at his fullest beside Franky once he'd gotten the well deserved rest.

Robin was somewhere in the library, reordering fallen books since the interior of the ship looked as if world war had just happened in there, everything spilled on the floor, some things totally ruined, some still fixable. Sanji had just finished cleaning the mess the kitchen had turned into, since when Zoro had entered the galley everything seemed more or less in order. He could start hearing some cooking noises blended with Brook's melancholic violin, the melody a perfect picture of how tired the skeleton was.

The swordsman blinked his sleep away, trying to stay awake as everyone seemed to be doing, none of them allowing sleep to take over since they knew there was no waking them up once they drifted away. And they were all hungry, so nope, they weren't letting that happen until they had their stomachs filled.

So Zoro busied himself scanning the shore they had ended up docking in. None of them were in any condition to be part of an exploring team, not even Luffy, who would usually be the one to drag them into a new adventure, so they hadn't gotten out of the ship yet since they docked, which was about an hour ago.

It was a rocky deserted landscape, no beach whatsoever in sight, just increasingly high piled rocks that kept climbing against sharp cliffs. From where they stood, no vegetation could be seen. All in all, the first impression was quite inhospitable. Zoro just hoped there was a town they could get some supplies from. And they urgently needed material to fix their ship since Franky had informed them that Sunny wasn't in any condition to sail any time soon unless they fixed some major damages. Starting with the mast. It was a miracle it hadn't fallen down again. Even with his limited knowledge on ships, Zoro knew that if the mast was fucked, the ship was fucked. And theirs was barely standing.

Sanji's hoarse voice emerged from the galley as he called them for lunch and the crew all but launched themselves there to get some food in their bodies as if they hadn't eaten in days. Which wasn't that far from the truth since all they had done was gulp down the dishes offered to them faster than lighting to get to work again while the storm was still hitting. It was the first time the crew could seat down together (minus Nami, who was sleeping in the infirmary) and calmly eat without fearing for their lives in quite a long time. All of their faces had seen better times and they seemed ready to doze off into their plates at that very moment. Lunch was weirdly quiet except for some praising of Sanji's food since they were all enjoying it more than usual after not doing so for a while.

One by one they finished and started leaving in order to sleep. Franky said he needed to fix some urgent things before doing so, which was good since they needed someone awake to keep watch while the crew was out. If all of them went to sleep at the same time, they could be thrown out of the Sunny and their ship stolen without any of them waking up at all, and that wouldn't do in their current state.

"Franky, if you need to sleep once you're done, I'll take the watch. I need to wash the dishes and do some inventory so it'll take a bit."

Franky turned to the blonde before leaving and gratefully smiled at him. Zoro frowned instead. He sat there, really wanting to go to sleep, but he was too pissed off to do so, so he waited until it was only both of them in the kitchen, Sanji quietly washing the dishes.

"And just _when_ are you planning on sleeping?" Zoro finally snapped.

"When somebody else takes the watch duty," Sanji answered as a matter of fact.

"You know when they get to sleep they won't wake up until lunch tomorrow, minimum."

"I don't really feel like sleeping."

"Like hell you don't!" Zoro growled, boring a hole into his back with a glare. Sanji wasn't even looking at him while talking, facing the sink all along. "You haven't gotten a minute of sleep these days."

"No one has."

"No one has had a _good_ sleep, but we have taken one or two hours a day to do so. All you ever disappeared for was for fucking cooking."

"You're welcome."

Zoro felt ready to punch something, but Sanji spoke again before the green haired man could retort.

"What's with the fuss anyways? Are you my mother? Since when do you fucking care what I do with my spare time?"

'That's what I'm fucking asking myself, bastard,' Zoro thought, but shut his mouth for good. It didn't help him that two people had already voiced out his own weird concerned behaviour towards the cook in the last hour. His brain was already giving him shit for it, no need for extra help, thank you very much.

"You're a stupid idiot with retired brain cells, I swear," he muttered, clenching his teeth. Sanji turned at that, a frown worsening his tired features.

"What was that, shitty marimo?"

Zoro huffed and rubbed both his hands along his face to ease some of the tension, reminding himself that neither of them needed a fight right now. Like, at all. So he didn't reply at the jab, even though he had started it.

"Just fucking go to sleep," Zoro groaned from behind his hands.

"I assume you'd be the one keeping watch, then," Sanji replied with a healthy dose of sarcasm.

Zoro gave him a glare through his fingers.

"Then shut the fuck up." And with that, Sanji resumed washing dishes with more energy than before.

When he finished the task, he settled for doing some inventory, see what they had and what they didn't, what they needed to buy, what was missing, what had gone to waste and what not. He suddenly realized Zoro was still there, sat with his elbows planted on the table and his hands holding his face in place, clearly fighting to keep his eye open. His usual scowl was faintly washed away by tiredness, a weird look on the swordsman, but also kind of endearing as it almost looked like a child's pout.

_Endearing_, what the fuck. Sanji blinked away what he was sure had to be sleep playing games on his sanity and fixed the moss head with a glare.

"Why aren't _you_ going to sleep?"

"Don't wanna."

"Bullshit. Fuck off and get some sleep somewhere that's not my kitchen."

"That's my line! Why don't _you_ fucking go to sleep once and for all, shit cook?"

"Already told you, marimo. I'm doing watch. Out."

"I'm on watch as well."

"The fuck!"

"For someone who constantly claims I am an idiot, you're quite a major idiot yourself, curly brow!"

"What the hell was that again, moss-for-brains?!"

Zoro sighed and rubbed his face again, arming himself with loads of patience since he was starting to run short of it.

"I'll be keeping watch _with_ you."

Sanji blinked at that, suddenly at loss for words, clearly out of their usual bickering line and apparently lost now that the swordsman had said something he wasn't expecting.

"Wha- Why?"

"Because I'll be able to wake you up if you doze off, and you'll be able to wake me up if I do. This way we'll make sure the watch duty is really being taken care of."

Sanji blinked again. Zoro was staring to wonder if his brain was following him or not. He suspected he had lost him at "because". Sanji opened his mouth once and then twice but no sound came out. Zoro growled. That whole situation was plain stupid.

"Listen, it's reasonable. If you want to go to sleep, go do so, but I'm staying up on watch and I don't give a fuck what you say."

The blonde finally sighed and weakly nodded, looking even more worn out than before. That alarmed Zoro, but he knew to keep his mouth sealed. Sanji wasn't commenting on Zoro's probably pathetic looks out of respect for the swordsman, not wanting to imply that he was weak because he fucking wasn't, so Zoro did just the same for Sanji. With that little bickering they both had weirdly showed that they kind of, only _kind of_, cared (and that "cared" was very relative, really) in their own way of showing so, so none of them was going to take it any further. Zoro knew that nagging Sanji with what was good for his health would only harm his pride and that was something they both valued enough so as not to step over it. Even if Zoro was _really_ tempted to just drag the blond to his hammock and knock him out for him to sleep before he really snapped. Not that he was _really_ worried for him. Not at all.

"I need to do this first, though. Franky is still outside fixing something if you want to wait with him," Sanji informed in a weary tone as he settled down to work.

Zoro shook his head, silently happy that the blond hadn't put up that much of a fight. He had really expected their fight getting physical for the cook to accept his covered-up help. Sanji must truly have felt exhausted.

"I'll stay here."

He didn't inform him of the fact that he wanted to keep an eye on him. That was something Sanji didn't need to know.

Then again, he expected Sanji kicking him out of the kitchen since he seemingly hated his very presence, but the blonde diverted from their usual framed behaviour path again and shrugged, settling into a surprisingly comfortable silence.

At some point Zoro's eyes closed as his head ended up resting on the table. Some time later a light shake of his shoulder woke him up as he faced a really tired Sanji.

"Ah, shit, I slept..."

"S'alright," Sanji reassured him, dragging each syllable. "I just finished doing my work and Franky already went to sleep. Let's go out and do that watch duty."

Zoro nodded and found himself half-smirking at the cook, who had pulled out an encouraging exhausted grin as he balled his fist up with as much enthusiasm as a rock.

"Yeah, let's go. Don't let me sleep so long next time I doze off though."

"Oh, don't worry about it. A kick in the shin is what you'll get if you do. I think that'll do," Sanji retorted playfully. Zoro didn't miss how his voice sounded sloppy.

"Watch it, cook. If _you _doze off, you might find yourself bald when you wake up. I just recently sharpened my swords," Zoro followed with his own challenging grin.

Sanji fixed him with a glare that on better days would have promised a painful death. Right now it only turned out as a lazy warning, his eyes unable to convey his murderous intent as they were too busy keeping themselves open.

"Now that I better think of it, you might find my foot shoved up your ass and saying hi through your nostrils."

Zoro barked a laugh at that, seriously wondering where the cook got those threats from. That didn't even sound serious. Well, it wouldn't if he didn't know the cook well. Knowing him, it wasn't entirely impossible for him to do something like that while looking cool as fuck. His laugher died away faster than usual as he lost the strength to do so when he plopped to the floor, sitting against the railing. Sanji sat by his side, still frowning at him but with a slight dimple by the corner of his mouth giving his amusement away. Ah, damn, they really needed sleep.

With that they settled into a comfortable silence again, inspecting their surroundings while fighting sleep away. Zoro gave Sanji a side-long glance when the cook put his attention on the shore they were docked in and saw the progression of his forehead wrinkling and his eyebrows knitting into a deep frown at the sight. Zoro didn't comment on it, he just really hoped there was a town somewhere in that island. Judging from Sanji's unsettled look, we wasn't sure of it either. He could actually sense his agitation from his side but still kept quiet. They'd have time to worry about that when they went exploring.

It had stopped drizzling now, and the greyish clouds were starting to drift away, slowly but still showing bits of white and streaks of blue here and there, shy sunrays making it through and lighting random little spots up. One of them was Sanji's face. The cook was still frowning, still looking dead exhausted, still wearing those black bags under his blue eyes... But his blonde hair was shining with a gold gleam and his face was slowly getting some color back. His attractive lips wrapped around a cigarette, his chest slowly working its way up and down, peacefully breathing.

Realization hit Zoro that Sanji was _alive_. That they were _all_ alive after he had assumed the worse was to happen. That his crew had survived and was ready to heal and move on. Sanji's even breathing proved that. The way his elegant hands lit the cigarette with mechanic familiarity, the way his lower lip slightly sticked out when he neared the nicotine stick to the lighter, the way the small flame momentarily lighted his features up with a mute click. The way his eyes fluttered close for a moment when inhaling the first drag and opened again to reveal a shocking shade of blue. The way his lips slightly pouted when he exhaled the calming smoke leaving him with a relaxed expression, his frown slowly disappearing. The way the golden strands danced across his features while bathed by the sun. The way his stupid eyebrows stupidly curled in a stupid way Zoro would never understand.

Zoro found himself smiling at the sight, feeling extremely grateful to be alive.

* * *

**A/N: **Hi guys, here we go again! I updated pretty fast this time! Yay!

I hope you liked this one, this is longer than the rest! Let me know what you think, both things you liked and mistakes you may find, it really helps me get better and it motivates me a lot!

Thank you to everyone reviewing, following, favouriting and reading, you make my day!

:)


	9. Chapter 9 - Just a Rock

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**Chapter 9**

**Just a Rock**

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It was long past midnight when Robin emerged from the girls' bedroom and found Sanji with his head leaning on a certain swordsman's shoulder, apparently asleep.

Zoro heard the footsteps and automatically snarled when the cook fidgeted by his side and sat upright, rubbing his still closed eyes as he had also heard the telltale sound of Robin's high heels clicking on the grass. Zoro fixed her with a glare but was met with an all-knowing smirk he didn't like one bit. The cook had just fallen asleep about five minutes ago and his breathing was starting to get deep when the raven haired woman had walked on them and woken him up.

At first, when he felt the weight of Sanji's head on his shoulder, Zoro had almost jumped at the unexpected contact and _nearly_ pushed him away with enough strength as to send him flying out of the ship, but then he kind of relaxed as his shoulder started to feel warm and he realized that Sanji had just peacefully fallen asleep, not meaning to attack him or anything. Over the last few minutes he had made it his main goal to beat statues in the stillness department so as not to wake up his tired nakama and had managed to do so until Robin decided to join them. Which actually pissed him off because the cook _needed_ that bit of sleep - that's why Zoro was letting him lean on him, no other particular reason- and he had just gotten that away from him.

"Shit, did I just doze off?"

"Don't worry cook, you still have your blonde mane in place. It was only thirty seconds." It wasn't only thirty seconds, it had been a good ten minutes at least. "I was about to make you bald, though."

"Shut the fuck up," Sanji groaned, barely understandable syllables making it out of his lips. "Oh, Robin?" he babbled, with his sleepy voice not seeming his own. He was still rubbing his not visible eye as he spoke, squinting to focus on Robin, seemingly disoriented. Zoro blinked at him and realized that right then Sanji almost looked like a kid. His pout and sleepy face didn't help. For a moment he feared what the cook's reaction to their former position would be but if his cloudy eyes were anything to go by, he probably hadn't even noticed as he was still descending from unconsciousness. "Why are you awake, dear?" Sanji asked, growing increasingly confused by the second. Zoro could almost see his brain gears trying to keep up with reality.

"I couldn't sleep anymore," Robin explained with a gentle gesture. "So I thought you two could go to sleep while I stay on watch. You could use some."

"No... Wai- What? No, no, _no_, Robin, don't worry about us and go to sleep, my beautiful flower, we are doing fine!" Sanji sputtered as he fell into pace with the situation. Zoro rolled his eyes.

"I can see," Robin chuckled behind her hand. Time for Sanji to look confused and Zoro to glare daggers at her. The damn woman was having too much fun and Zoro didn't like her motives at all. "But really, Sanji, I can't sleep at all anymore and it would just be a waste of time to have you both awake and tired when you need sleep just like the rest and there's someone who can do the duty."

Sanji shut up at that, apparently not finding any good polite retort in his wide stored arsenal. Zoro snorted and stood up, getting Sanji by the elbow and forcing him up while earning a few colourful curses from the blond.

"Come on, shit cook, do as you are told for once and let's go to sleep."

Sanji brushed his hand away and Zoro was momentarily tempted to shove into the blond's knowledge the fact that Sanji had been almost fucking cuddling with him not a minute ago, but he let the idea fly away in order to save them both some embarrassment they didn't really need, less in Robin's presence since she had seen the scene and seemed annoyingly amused by it. Zoro didn't even know what to make of it himself, let alone put the blonde into the equation. It was easier to forget it had ever happened if it was his brain alone he had to deal with. Ignoring Robin's knowing glances would do. Having to put up with Sanji's rants if he ever got to know definitely wouldn't. And he was fairly sure the idiot would end up finding a way to blame him for this. Zoro was already getting annoyed at the potential consequences of a slip of his tongue so he took the cook's front shirt and dragged him to the guys bunks before Robin's smile would give anything away, the blonde not putting much of a fight as he was currently sending kisses and thank yous and sweet goodnights to the woman, much to Zoro's irritation.

"Can't you shut up?"

"Will you stop dragging me?"

"Will you fucking walk by yourself and go to sleep?"

"Won't you ever stop being insufferable?"

"My fucking very line, dart-brow."

"You stupid moss-head!"

"Curly-brow."

"Marimo."

"Ero-cook."

"Neanderthal."

"Shit-cook."

"Fucking shitty swordsman."

Sanji's hand darted away to cover Zoro's mouth at the same time the swordsman's reached his lips with an aggressive gesture as they glowered daggers at each other and told the other to shut the fuck up with their free fingers since they had already reached their bedroom and a troubled snore told them that they had been about to wake someone up with their bickering. Hands slowly leaving the other's mouth, they snarled at each other for good measure before silently stomping to their respective bunks while quietly muttering curses under their breaths mainly involving moss, marimos, shitty-cooks and curlies. As soon as their faces hit their pillows, though, all sound was gone as all fight left them, and everything turned into blackness.

* * *

Sanji woke up in between loud nasty snores and groaned in the dark. He attempted a fight with his blanket and ended up tangled in it, so he eventually gave up, grumbling and mentally cursing everything that came to mind. Fuck, he really needed to sleep more, and sleep was indeed tugging his brain to switch off, but he knew already that he wasn't getting any any time soon. Sanji buried his nose in his pillow, wishing it would help, but it obviously didn't. He started to believe his brain didn't like him, waking him up and all when his current only goal in life was to sleep. Neither did his crew mates, judging from the obnoxious roaring their snores had built up to.

Well, it was mainly his brain that was killing him. Of course it had woken him up. He had been dreaming of that damn rock again, days of nothing but starving, days that waved goodbye one after the other with nothing but another crushed hope of living. The certainty of dying at the palm of his hand, his bonny arms reaching for a way out and not finding any, and the worst: the wait. The fucking wait. Wait for what? It came to a point where he had just waited for death to embrace him and take him away from that torture, but death had no such merciful plans for him. Not when life had decided he wouldn't go yet. That life being an old grumpy pirate with a leg missing for the sake of a stupid child who had... who had tried to kill him.

Images and feelings of those times kept visiting him even after so many years some nights. He'd stayed clear of those dreams for a while now, but tonight hadn't been such a lucky one. Not that he was surprised, the shore they were docked in held a suspicious resemblance with _his_ rock. And his subconscious had decided to helpfully remind him of that fact by sending a horde of unpleasant dreams to haunt him while he was asleep. That until his brain had snapped and woken him up, already weary of those memories. No need to recreate them again, thank you very much.

Sanji groaned again, then sighed and sat up, rubbing his face in frustration. There was no more sleeping tonight, and it was as firm a fact as firm were Zoro's muscl-_What!_ Just, seriously now, what. The. Fuck.

This time he whined, yes, Blackleg Sanji whined. Not that he'd ever do it again, nope. Not that anybody was to know he had done so. Never. He kept his ears at work, trying to tell if anybody had heard. Judging from the snores, that was not the case. Perfect. He really didn't feel like having to kill any witnesses. But, really, _what the heck_. Last time he remembered doing this kind of comparison, it was regarding Nami's boobs. How it had gone from that magnificent mental image to _that _other one he wasn't sure, and he didn't want to know.

Wishing there was some kind of reset button attached to his brain, he just forced himself to get out of his bunk. He really needed a cigarette. And maybe he could tell Robin to go to sleep while he took watch again. There wasn't much else he could do if he stayed in bed, not now that both his brain and body had decided to boycott him with unwanted memories and stupid marimo images he didn't really need.

He rummaged for his pack of cigarettes and lighter and tossed them in his trousers' front pocket. Feeling like he really needed to clean up as his clothes were salty due to the storm they had gone through and practically living bathed in ocean waves for three days, but, knowing that if he was to be on watch he wouldn't have time for a shower, he settled for getting rid of his shirt and changing for a casual clean T-shirt, the one with the _gentlecook _motive. That would do the trick until he got some time to make himself more than presentable.

Deciding he was done there and sighing yet again, he stepped away to leave. And then a hoarse sleepy voice stopped him on his tracks.

"Where ya goin', shit cook?"

Said cook turned to where he thought he could discern the marimo's figure fidgeting in his hammock. A sneer appeared on Sanji's face as he walked back to get to Zoro's level so that he wouldn't have to raise his voice to communicate and wake everyone up. So Zoro was too asleep as to pronounce his words correctly but still awake enough as to insult him. Not surprised. That didn't mean it pissed him off less. Rather the opposite.

"The hell ya doin' awake?" came the marimo's voice as he sensed Sanji's presence inches away from him. He really seemed to be struggling with his own brain to get words out. Just about what he always did, in Sanji's modest opinion.

"Can't sleep."

"Bullshit."

"Shut up. Going for a walk, I really can't sleep for the life of me anymore," Sanji whispered, actually enjoying how Zoro seemed to be getting pissed off in his sleepy world as Sanji's voice was steadier and made more sense than his.

"Where?" Zoro grunted. He was already drifting back to sleep, Sanji could tell. A small smile tugged his lips as his hand involuntarily patted the swordsman's shoulder.

"Shore. See where we are."

Next reply came as a muffled groan that almost choked into a snore. Sanji's smile grew wider despite how uselessly sleepy he was himself and he finally got out of the men's quarters, startling when he faced daylight. He was really expecting it to be deep in the night. It felt like he had only slept for one hour or two but apparently it was not the case. It was still pretty cloudy, but sunrays made it through here and there, and if the kind of light reaching him was anything to go by, it was quite late.

"Good morning, Mr. Cook."

Sanji turned a surprised gaze to Robin, who smiled at him with a mug of coffee in her hand and an open book in the other. Chopper jumped by her side, all cheerfulness and smiles.

"Hi, Sanji! Did you sleep well?"

The blonde found a grin on his own face as he walked to them.

"Yes, kind of," he lied. "Good morning Robin, love! You look beautiful as always, my dear!"

He politely waited for Robin's usual chuckle and then turned to Chopper, crouching next to him to be at eye level. "And have you slept, Chopper?" His tone was a bit suspicious as the little reindeer was one of his crewmates who could be stubborn enough as not to sleep in order to assume responsibilities, just as Robin or himself.

"Yes, I slept very well! Though I slept in the infirmary to make sure everything was okay with Nami!"

"How's she doing?" Sanji asked, a frown creasing his forehead as a usual guilty feeling made itself room in his chest.

"Quite well, actually. She's still sleeping," the doctor informed with a determined look that helped Sanji's uneasiness fade away. Just a little.

"Well, what time is it? I'm sorry I didn't cook breakfast..."

"It must be about ten, maybe eleven?" Robin answered, apparently lost in her book and having forgotten all sense of time.

"Oh shit, I really did totally skip breakfast..." Sanji grunted, knitting his eyebrows. So he had slept far way more than he had thought, actually quite a good amount of hours, just that he hadn't had the rest he would have needed.

"Nobody expected you to cook breakfast today, Sanji, so don't worry", Robin assured him. "And I don't think the rest will wake up anytime before lunch. Rather after that. Maybe before dinner. The only guarantee that they will is because of Luffy. He won't let himself skip that many meals."

"Ugh, yeah, that human vacuum," Sanji groaned, and Robin laughed at that. She had come to have a pretty good idea of the suffering the chef went through when facing the task of feeding their captain. "So, I take it that you have already eaten?"

"Yes, sir!" Chopper announced with his happy chocolate brown eyes conveying his message. Sanji almost chuckled at that along with Robin. "Well, then, I'll be going for a walk around the ship. I want to see what there's up those cliffs, see if there's a town or something nearby."

"But maybe we should wait for the rest and form teams to explore," Robin objected, though quite relaxedly.

"I know, I'll just go take a look, I could really use a walk. I promise I won't get into trouble," he solemnly informed with a hand on his chest and a serious face, much to Robin's amusement.

"See you later, then," she waved with a smile. Chopper hugged his leg and waved enthusiastically while leaving to the infirmary to go work on something Sanji didn't get to listen to.

"I'll be back before lunch!"

* * *

The damn cliffs were a bitch to climb, that much he had concluded when he made his way up. Well, that's the impression he got, since he hadn't properly _climbed_. More like he had jumped in the air. He decided he would look for an easier way up for his crewmates on his way back. Luffy could just stretch and Zoro was Zoro but he couldn't and didn't want to picture his lovely ladies scratching their hands to get up there. More like only Robin since Nami was most likely not going to join them in that particular 'adventure', as Luffy liked to call it, not in her state. Sanji sighed, a pained look freely crossing his face now that he didn't have anyone around he had to hide it from.

He quickly rebuilt his composure and settled for inspecting his surroundings, which was what he had come to do. He'd have time to despise himself in his free time.

A frown darkened his face at the sight. It was exactly what he'd expected. Rocks. Fucking sharp rocks, cliffs here and there, hidden deadly crevices and himself. Sanji groaned and rubbed his face, already feeling a headache building up, but he told himself the island was bigger than that, so if he kept walking he would probably find a small town or a forest or some signs of life somewhere. He had this uneasy feeling in his gut, but he kept his hopes high and started walking, careful not to slip in any crevice and break his neck.

There _had_ to be a town, he told himself. He was surprised at his own determination, but he couldn't pinpoint if it was due to actual confidence or the desperate need for it to be true. The unsettling feeling stayed there though, but he decided to ignore it. He guessed it was just normal for him to feel uneasy when his current environment looked so much like the one haunting him in his memories. And he had to admit he hadn't been exactly stable on the emotional department for the last few days, so it really shouldn't be strange that everything he saw was painted a little bit darker than it actually was.

His hands absently reached for a cigarette and lit it without him registering the motion while his eyes scanned his surroundings, keeping a good pace in order to cover the maximum space possible before coming back.

It had been half an hour walking and his gut was starting to twist as nothing came yet to view. Not even vegetation or anything of that sort. His feet started to get weirdly cold as he quickened his steps, which were turning rigid by the moment. That unsettling feeling was now taking the best of him as he started seeing other cliffs around him, all leading to the sea. Shit, he already knew it was useless to walk anymore. He had known it since he had seen the shore but it had been easier to build an armour of confidence and convince himself that his odds weren't that bad. So he didn't stop walking, even when his chest started to clench in a familiar forgotten feeling, not until he reached the other side of the island, which cut into a sharp cliff.

Sanji stood there and lit another cigarette, the last bit of concentration spent in making his hands steady. He mentally patted himself when he managed to do it as if nothing was amiss. But there was this weight in his gut, this clenching in his chest, this cold numb feeling in his whole body. Sanji told himself that he had only walked a straight line from side to side. He had already caught a glimpse of the center of the island, but maybe there was something around the edges, there _had_ to be. Waving the dreadful feeling off once again he started walking again in order to circle the island. If there was something to find, he'd find it.

His hands started trembling and he shoved them in his pockets. If he didn't see the way his body was reacting, already knowing what was coming, maybe his mind could fool him for a little while more.

Come on, there had to be something. There _had_ to. There was no way karma was such a bitch.

Sanji bitterly laughed at his own joke.

* * *

"Where's Sanji?! Sanjiiiiiii?! Saaaaan-Dammit, I'm really hungry! Sanji I'm hungryyyyyyy!"

Zoro swore he was ready to kill someone. Preferably his captain.

"Luffy, shut up, for fuck's sake..." he groaned, burying his face in the pillow, wishing that it could muffle his captain's desperate cries.

"I'm hungryyyyy! _Sanji!_"

"Luffy, you woke me up!" Usopp whined from his hammock. Movement and soft curses around them told Zoro that the others were waking up as well.

"But I'm hungry! Why is Sanji not here?! I can't sleep anymore if I don't eat meat! Sanjiiiiii!"

His voice was thankfully less strident as Luffy stormed out of their room in order to hunt Sanji down around the ship. They could still hear him, but far away enough as not to pierce their ears. Zoro heard a collective relieved sigh as peace and darkness filled their quarters again.

He was finally drifting back to sleep when the door flew open and the damn voice cut through his eardrums once more, this time at full volume.

"Where's Sanji?! I'm starving! _Saaaaaaaaa-_!

A pillow hit Luffy's face with enough force as to slam the rubber boy against the wooden wall, effectively shutting him up.

"Shut the fuck up, Luffy!" Zoro growled, arm still in the air and slowly retreating as he went back to his lying position, pissed as hell and now fully awake, much to his dismay. Luffy's only response was a teary whine as he crawled out of the room asking for Chopper to console him and maybe get him a snack. A few "thank you, Zoro" lazily crossed the room but he just grunted. He knew himself well enough as to know he wasn't going to fall asleep again in a while.

* * *

The cliffs were a bitch to climb, he concluded. They'd have to look for an alternative way up for the rest of the crew. He could handle himself, Luffy could just stretch and the damn cook did the damn sky walk thing but he bet Usopp would piss his pants if he had to face the dangerous task of climbing up that hell of a cliff.

He'd been walking around for a while now, and nothing came into view but rocks. Granted it was possible he had just gotten lost and was walking in circles – not that he'd admit it, nope, no way – but something told him he wouldn't find a town or anything of the kind. Not that it mattered at that point, that's not exactly what he was looking for. Slight anxiety bugged him as his eyes wandered around for a glimpse of blond. Robin had told him that Sanji had gone to inspect their surroundings hours ago. If his instinct was right, there was nothing to be found, and the island wasn't that big, so there was no reason for the cook to be taking so much time to come back. Maybe he had fallen down a crevice and killed himself? Nah, he wouldn't be as stupid as to do that.

Then he saw blonde and stopped in his tracks.

He felt his chest clench and his frown lose strength at the sight. Sanji was some meters ahead of him, right at the edge of a cliff, apparently watching the sea vastness in front of him. Zoro's gaze was lost in the cook as he registered the slumped-down shoulders, the defeated stance and vibes, a feeling of helplessness around him. He hadn't even seen his face yet, but if he had to trust the twisting of his gut, Zoro felt it was worse than the other times. This time it looked as utter ironic defeat, this time, Sanji looked lost, helpless, fucking _small_. And he had just seen his _back_.

Zoro didn't even find it in him to get angry, the unsettling scorching feeling in his chest was too overwhelming to leave place for anything else. Sanji's sight made himself feel helpless and at loss for what to do anymore. He really didn't want to see him like this. He couldn't see him like this without feeling sick.

"Cook," he called with half the strength he intended. Sanji didn't even flinch and the thought occurred that he hadn't heard him, that chances were that he hadn't even sensed his presence. So he tried again, forcing himself to raise his voice and add that biting teasing tone he used with Sanji. That always worked and riled him up.

No such luck this time. He didn't register that he had walked to Sanji's side until he was there. He didn't register his hand gently brushing against the cook's arm as he titled his head to get a better view of his face until he had already done so. He didn't register the word slipping past his lips until it did and the awkwardness of pronouncing it brought him back to the very tangible reality.

"Sanji."

Sanji was slightly startled as his shoulders flinched and his face turned to Zoro with an unreadable expression working as a mask. His trademark cigarette was halfway to his mouth and the tilt of his head was relaxed, but something in the whole stance was out of place. Sanji didn't even bother pulling his shoulders up, didn't even bother building a better mask, he just looked at Zoro, mildly surprised at his real name being called by the swordsman, which had brought him back to reality from wherever his thoughts had been wandering.

Zoro's tone had been gentle and worried, almost caring. Just like his current expression. It was actually difficult to take it in as it was such an unusual range of feelings for Zoro to show. And definitely not to him. His hand still lingered on Sanji's arm, but the blonde didn't pull away.

They stared at each other for a while until Zoro found his voice back and let out some words, almost as a whisper.

"Luffy says he's hungry," he informed, watching the cook for any reaction.

Sanji scoffed with a distant smirk as he shook his head and let his gaze fall back into the sea. "Damn black hole..."

The blond sighed and smiled again with resignation.

"I'll be coming in a minute," he announced while waving his cigarette for Zoro to understand he wanted to finish it.

Zoro nodded, his hand still on Sanji's arm. Sanji hadn't pulled away yet.

"So... There's no town?" he asked after a while.

Sanji's shoulders seemed to fall even more at that, but his expression was still stoic. He lazily shook his head and looked at Zoro straight in the eyes.

"No town. No nothing," he said. Zoro had already known that, but hearing Sanji say it in _that _hollow tone told him how screwed they were going to be if they didn't find another island soon. And the Sunny's state wasn't exactly comforting. "I knew it the moment I saw the shore, but I just wanted to make sure."

He let out a bitter streak of laughter that made Zoro's skin uncomfortable as a shiver ran down his spine.

"But I was obviously right. As always," he chuckled, looking at Zoro with what intended to be an amused smile. To him it just looked helplessly defeated. "It's just a fucking _rock_."

His chuckles faded away as his glance went back to the ocean, his eyes clouded, his jaw clenching around his cigarette with enough strength as to destroy it. It was a miracle he didn't.

"_Again_."

Zoro felt traces of desperation build up inside him, much to his surprise. He wanted to do something, _anything_, to make that expression go away. But his brain had decided to helpfully barricade its functioning neurons somewhere he couldn't find, and nothing clever or particularly useful came to mind.

His instincts, which had always worked just fine, kicked in and his hand landed on Sanji's shoulder to give him a firm squeeze that surprised the blond as his eyes widened when looking back at him.

"We should get going," Zoro said, giving him the most reassuring look he could as he seemingly was too dense to put something so embarrassing into words. _Everything will be fine_ sounded stupid enough in his head, he didn't even want to picture how it would sound had he voiced it out. Rather spare them the embarrassment. He just hoped he got the message through with his squeeze. Sanji seemed to get it as a small smile slowly creeped up his features and lightly brightened his face. Zoro felt something warming him up inside and couldn't help mirroring his expression. Damn it, that was so much better. Zoro almost sent his pride to hell in order to tell him to keep that expression, for fuck's sake, but last-minute self-awareness willed him to shut the fuck up, much to his relief.

"Yeah, let's get going," Sanji flicked his cigarette at the sea with one last look before gently brushing Zoro's hand away and heading the right direction. "Before our crazy captain does something to deserve a kick in the ass."

Zoro lightly laughed at that and the sound made Sanji draw a sincere smile directed to no one in particular. The fading laughter also told him Zoro was unsurprisingly heading the wrong way behind him, so he turned, fixing him with a mocking look that drew a frown from the swordsman, who was indeed facing the wrong way.

"It's about time you stopped getting lost, you know," he commented as he fisted his haramaki and dragged him behind his steps. Zoro struggled for a moment, yelling and complaining like he was supposed to do, only to receive the snarky barks Sanji was supposed to counterattack with, their cursing and yelling lasting until they reached the ship, as it was supposed to go like.

But at one point, Zoro had stopped physically struggling and just settled for following Sanji.

Sanji didn't let go for a moment.

* * *

**A/N: **hiiiii! So now you know where they ended up! Poor Sanji, his luck seems to be on vacation, good thing Zoro is there!

Let me know what you think! Thank you for all your lovely reviews, they make me really happy to read! :)


	10. Chapter 10 - We'll Manage

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* * *

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**Chapter 10**

**We'll Manage**

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* * *

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Sanji had already kicked Luffy out of the kitchen three times, preventing him from sacking their supplies. If somebody had noticed his cursing was worse than normal or his kicks stronger and unrestrained, nobody mentioned. Though the fact that Luffy had given up after the third attempt could very well mean even _he_ had realized that something was wrong and Sanji was not to be messed with at the moment.

Zoro raised an eyebrow at his captain's whines that woke him up from a nice nap. He heard himself growl and sigh, knowing he wouldn't be getting any sleep until Luffy got his stomach full again.

They had informed the crew of their current situation and though there had been slightly worried expressions, they had taken it the way Strawhats always did: firmly believing that was nothing more than a little tumble they'd get through. That wasn't Franky's or Sanji's opinion at all, though. Their frowns were tattooed in their faces after spending some time in the galley alone, discussing something. That could only mean they knew something the others didn't, namely that the situation was worse than they had told them.

Zoro saw Franky leave the galley, where he had been closed in with Sanji for a while now, again, with a dark expression on his face. Sanji would start cooking soon now that he was left alone. He stood on his feet and made his way to the cook's realm, knowing things were off. Not really a surprise, he already figured, but he needed to know the extent of their problems and not their sugar-coated version.

"Out of my kitchen."

"Yo, crap-cook, I'm also happy to see you."

Sanji glared at him before setting to work and getting all the utensils he'd need ready.

"What do you want? You're not going to get any booze."

"Didn't plan on stealing some, for a change."

"Fine. I don't feel like fighting."

Woah, something was _really_ wrong. Zoro scowled at him, trying to keep his worry at bay.

"Just wanted to know what's wrong."

Sanji barked a bitter laugh. "Oh, come on, I thought I wouldn't need to explain to _you_ that we are currently stuck in a deserted island which you have already seen. Are you really that dense?"

"I'm actually trying to be serious here," Zoro growled, already feeling his temper being challenged.

"Could've fooled me."

"You're an asshole."

"So I've been told."

Zoro sighed. "Franky was here with you a moment ago. What were you talking about?"

"Are you my girlfriend or something? You jealous now?"

"I'm gonna kill you."

"Woah, that's an ace way of prying information, go on, man."

Zoro could already feel the headache building up and his murdering urges raging. He rubbed his temples and groaned, wondering why the hell the cook had to be such a major asshole _even_ when he was trying to be serious and, mind you, _nice_. But neither the sarcasm or the biting tone of the blonde managed to mask the waves of utter worry coming out of him. If he had expected his snarky remarks to get the swordsman away, he was sadly mistaken.

"Sanji."

Sanji had to turn and face him with that. It was twice the swordsman had said his real name aloud that day, which was something extraordinarily rare and alarming. That meant Zoro really meant business, but it wasn't that fact that made Sanji deflate and give in. The swordsman's voice pronouncing his name was annoyingly enough to make any snarky coherent thought fade away and tangle his brain, something weird building up in his chest. At that point there really wasn't much he could do to shoo him away.

"What, _Zoro_," he slowly answered, fixing him with a no-nonsense look, leaning his back against de counter and crossing his arms over his chest to show him he was listening.

"Can you stop being an asshole and trust me for once?"

Sanji grimaced at him, taken aback by the swordsman's words. Well, that seriously annoyed him somehow, so he didn't register his own indignant retort until he heard himself aggressively voicing it out loud, acting out of impulse.

"_Trust me for once_? When have I _not_ trusted you, Zoro?!"

And once it registered, he decided he wanted to dig a hole and bury himself in it. What the hell had that been?! However, instead of letting embarrassment take a toll on him and get him in a worse position as his cheeks were staring to feel hot, he let a mastered teasing smirk take the reins of his facial expression and he kind of fixed the embarrassing verbal slip with a, "Aside from when it comes to you giving me directions."

Zoro covered what he'd always swear was definitely _not_ a fierce blush with an even fiercer snarl the moment the cook saved the situation with the last annoying-as-hell taunt. Oh, come on, the cook had _not_ just said that! He tried to ignore his chest being stabbed by the crazy beating his heart had gotten into and luckily succeeded as annoyance at the last comment overpowered the weird initial feeling.

Had he just felt... happy at what Sanji had said? What the fuck, was he a high school kid with a crush or what?! No, scratch that, better not try to answer that one or he may find unwanted surprises. So, instead, he feigned the first comment had never happened and redirected his energies at getting annoyed at the last taunt, which he was much better at when dealing with the cook. Latest days had proved that different kinds of rare situations and interactions between them didn't exactly boost his sanity.

"Don't you dare get started with that shit when I'm being all serious, curly-brow!" he growled, mentally patting himself for actually sounding convincedly pissed off.

Sanji cheekily snickered and Zoro definitely did _not_ think that had looked kind of adorable as he considered slamming his unhelpful twisted brain against the counter. Where was all that shit coming from, seriously!

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, Marimo," Sanji smirked as he lit a cigarette.

Zoro realized Sanji wasn't going to collaborate unless he pried the information out of him, so he sighed in order to calm himself down and resumed his interrogation, getting back to his serious expression. At least Sanji was now listening and apparently willing to answer.

"Okay, really now, what's the problem? What did you and Franky talk about?"

Sanji sighed and went back to worried mode as he realized there was no more fooling around. He absently directed his gaze at the ceiling as he fidgeted with his cigarette, taking time to order his thoughts.

"We were discussing how much time it would take to repair the Sunny so that it can safely sail again."

"And?"

"He told me it could very well take a week. The mast is really fucked up and there are other major damages he has to take care of without that many materials as lots of them were washed away and we can't get any new ones in this rock we're stuck in."

Zoro frowned. He understood it wasn't exactly the best news they could get, but that didn't justify Franky's and Sanji's dark worried expressions. It just meant their journey being delayed, which should annoy Luffy more than them as that also meant delaying his crazy adventure.

"Well then, we wait for one week, no big deal," he shrugged, voicing his logic line of thought. Which apparently didn't match the cook's as he grew an impressive frown capable of competing with Zoro's trademark scowliest scowl. That made Zoro frown back, an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach as he began to realize it wasn't that simple. "What?"

Sanji sighed, mentally trying to label Zoro's level of idiocy but forcing himself not to voice it out loud as he wasn't in the mood to start a fight.

"I also talked to Nami. Apparently next island is two weeks away from here."

"Which makes it three weeks to reach inhabited land, okay, so what?" Zoro pressed, starting to lose his patience. Cook sure liked to take long curvy paths to get to the point sometimes.

"Oh my, you've learnt to count!" Sanji exclaimed with wide eyes and a mock shocked expression Zoro felt the urge to punch.

"You're fucking pushing it, shit-cook!" Zoro snapped, getting into his personal space and grabbing a fistful of Sanji's tie. Sanji's amused laughter, though, erased any possibility of a real fight. Damn it, he was a pro at getting under his skin and the bastard enjoyed it to no end, even when facing serious situations.

Zoro tried to ignore the fading snickering of the blonde, the way his nose crinkled a little when chuckling, the way his full lips stretched over white perfect teeth and made him look younger and warmed the room like sunshine. Basically because those kind of corny, annoying, "what-the-fuck" labeled thoughts couldn't possibly be happily wandering around his brain. Like, _no way_. Nope. And also because he knew the cook was trying to divert the attention in an attempt to get out of the previous conversation. Which Zoro wasn't going to allow.

When Sanji had calmed down enough as to give him a teasing mocking smirk, Zoro showed him it wouldn't work on him by getting straight to the point.

"Cook, spit it out already. Where's the problem?"

Zoro saw Sanji's built up mirth fade away as he sighed and deflated, averting his gaze and growing that worried expression again. Zoro found himself hating it, but he wasn't going to let the core of the problem slip just because Sanji's smile made him feel funny things and was a billion times better than his current worried scowl.

"I've been doing some inventory. Again. Taking into account that we can't restock here."

Sanji still didn't look at him, but Zoro saw the brink of that defeated look shyly stick out in the blonde's eyes. Zoro clenched his jaw with enough force as for it to hurt, trying not to get carried away by what he knew was under the cook's shattering mask. He just hoped it wouldn't slip again, he really was afraid that this time, being this close, he wouldn't be able to restrain himself from introducing his fist to Sanji's face. As he read the cook's look and Sanji's words sunk in, realization started to hit him and the unsettling feeling in his stomach increased.

"Sanji..."

With that, he effectively brought the evasive eyes of the cook back to his. He tried not to think about how weird it felt to pronounce his name aloud but it had still come out naturally three times that day, without him even thinking. At least it seemed to do the trick and got the blonde's attention.

Zoro sunk into Sanji's blue iris, trying to seek an answer in it, but he only found slight apprehension as the cook had managed to barricade his line of thought from his expression. So that only left Zoro to guess. And he had a pretty good idea of where this was leading them. His voice was carefully channelled when he settled for asking out loud.

"How long will the food last?"

It was then that Sanji's wall fell so that Zoro could read the answer in it as the cook sighed and rubbed his tired features, shrugging in defeat, his gaze avoiding Zoro's again.

"About a week. Ten to twelve days _at most_."

Zoro felt something heavy settle in his stomach, not only because of the news but also because of Sanji's expression. He still couldn't get the other to look him in the eyes. Oh, man, those were bad news. The crew starving was the last thing they needed and he knew that was kind of a sensitive topic for Sanji. Zoro's brain kicked into action, looking for ways of solving that mess while trying to get Sanji to look back at him.

"We can always... you know, go fishing or something. We won't have vegetables and other necessary stuff, but I don't think Luffy will particulary mind," he tried to smile at his half-assed joke in an attempt to make Sanji mirror his gesture. It usually worked. When Sanji's mouth's corner tugged up a little and a mildly amused look crossed his eyes for a moment, Zoro felt his own smile lift up in relief. "See? It's not like we'll starve."

"Yeah, yeah," Sanji nodded with a sincere smile. "Fishing time. Yay."

Zoro half laughed at that, giving Sanji some space back.

"Come on, we've managed worse! Don't worry so much about it," Zoro smirked as he made his way out of the kitchen. "We'll catch a big-ass fish and we'll have enough meat for a month!"

"Who said I was worried, moss-head?" Sanji sneered as he regained his usual confident stance.

"Well, you looked about to jump of a bridge," Zoro teased, feeling inexplicably happy that the cook was back to playing his arguing-for-nothing game back. "Thought I had to cheer you up, you know, can't have a damsel in distress growing wrinkles between her curly eyebrows, I know of a certain idiot who'd kick my ass if I ever let that happen."

He saw the kick coming even before Sanji put his leg into motion. He dodged with a feral grin as he took in Sanji's pissed-off snarl. An axe kick fell down out of nowhere and Zoro barely managed to avoid it as he rolled through the galley's floor trying to hold back a laughing fit. Really, he shouldn't be so happy, there wasn't even a reason for it, but the bubbling feeling in his chest didn't seem willing to disappear so he just let it be as he unshielded one sword and blocked a powerful attack directed straight at his face.

"Fuck off, damn idiotic marimo!" Sanji growled.

That made Zoro have serious trouble with containing an amused snicker. Oh my, he had managed to piss him off big time this time. Zoro scored another point in his little victories-against-the-idiot-cook mental list.

Sanji noticed Zoro's expression, knowing he was about to burst out laughing, and he decided he didn't want to see it.

"Out of my kitchen, damn it!" he ordered as he forced Zoro to the door with his next kick. A rant of curses and insults that would've made the manliest sailor blush later, Zoro was already back to back with the door, having lost his fight against laughter and guffawing like a kid. Which wasn't like Zoro at all, specially not around Sanji. Which made Sanji's chest do funny things, which in combination with the pissed-off feeling in his stomach didn't help his case at all. "I don't fucking need you cheering me up; I'm not a fucking damsel in distress; not a fucking wrinkle is going to appear between my eyebrows because I'm damn hot and that's just not happening; it's you who's the idiot, not me; and yes, oh yeah, I'm gonna fucking kick your ass!" he yelled as he kicked the swordsman's way out, red with embarrassment and rage. Zoro bending with laughter _definitely_ didn't help.

"Fuck you!"

And with that, the galley door was slammed with enough force as to break it. Some lucky star prevented it from doing so. Zoro, who had barely avoided the wooden door slamming against his nose, stayed right there, body curled and not being able to control his laughter anymore. It was stupid, he didn't even know what he was laughing at anymore, he just couldn't stop it.

Usopp looked at him with a weird puzzled expression as he reached the conclusion that the man had finally gone nuts. There was no other explanation as to why Zoro was laughing _like that_, at least not in the sniper's brain, and it made even less sense as the reason had apparently been something related to Sanji who, judging from how the ship had almost lost the galley door in the process, hadn't found it nearly as funny. He ended up shrugging it off, though. The whole crew was crazy as they came, so nothing surprised him anymore.

* * *

They didn't catch a single fish that day. There were no signs of life under water or up in the sky. They had formed a small group consisting on Usopp, Zoro, Sanji and Franky to dive into the water and use some weird net Usopp had just been working on, apparently designed to attract fishes in it from a respectable distance. Luffy had been clapping all along, cheering them, singing, whining because he was hungry and falling face first into the sea twice much to Sanji's dismay since he seemed to be officially the one to save their captain's sorry ass in those kind of situations. Luffy even came up with an out-of-tune awful song he bawled rather than singed, its lyrics somewhere in the way of inviting fishies to come play and be his friends and informing them he'd devour them right away.

Still, by night time they hadn't caught anything. No signs of life, no signs of anything.

Zoro watched Sanji's bare back as he got out of the water and climbed back to the Sunny. His shoulders were down again and though he even smiled at Luffy when he joked about something once he was on deck, Zoro could see he was barely containing a painful sigh. He himself got on deck and kept staring as the cook slowly made his way back to the galley, looking down. Nobody seemed to notice. Zoro did and felt his chest tighten.

* * *

Dinner was crazy as always but smaller portions were served, much to Luffy's despair. He didn't whine as much as expected though, maybe sensing it wasn't time for that. Sanji kept his cool, smiled and complimented Robin, brought Nami's portion to the infirmary, kicked Luffy's stretching hand from here and there and kept himself busy all along, not letting the smallest sign of discomfort or worry show in his face. Zoro knew they were there, though. And he found himself not knowing if he was more annoyed at the fact that the cook was stubborn enough as to keep it to himself or that the crew failed to notice.

His anger grew when he saw the cook's serving. It was even smaller. Much smaller. And he left half of it for Luffy to calm him down. Again, no one noticed. Now that he thought about it, Sanji's servings had been smaller ever since he had realized they were short of food supplies. But anger dissipated into a pained feeling Zoro couldn't quite pinpoint, so he settled for murdering his food with his fork, trying to ease some of the tension he was feeling. He didn't even know why he cared so much anymore.

The crew slowly left as they finished, leaving Sanji to do the dishes with Usopp. Zoro saw the long-nose leaving the galley when they were done and took the chance to sneak in, promising himself he wouldn't snap.

Once he was inside and facing a surprised cook, he stopped and wondered why he was in there in the first place. He came to the conclusion that his brain had switched off a while ago, not letting him connect his missing common sense with his actions. But he was already there and Sanji was already looking at him with a questioning look that reminded him of a non-spoken 'what the fuck do you want', and flying out of there would do him little favour. So he stayed.

"Hey."

Sanji blinked but nodded, acknowledging his presence. He was sat near the counter, noting things in his notebook, apparently doing inventory and meal planning all over again.

When Sanji realized Zoro wasn't trying to steal booze and felt him sitting next to him, he finally left his devices aside, sitting straight and _really_ looking at the swordsman.

"What?"

Zoro shrugged. He really didn't know what he was doing there. Neither he knew what he wanted. Well, he knew, but he wasn't going to say that out loud. He was pretty sure that if Sanji heard him say he just wanted to erase the expression he was currently making out of his face, he'd kick him. Hard. So he shut up for good.

"Marimo."

Zoro looked back at him when he heard the pissed off tone directed at him. He was probably not in the right path for avoiding a potential painful kick if he kept on acting like this.

"You know, I was just thinking..."

"That's new."

"Shut up, asshole."

"Get to the point. Lately I'm even seeing you sailing in my soup. Any reason you're here or you just wanted to enjoy my inestimable company?"

Zoro scowled at Sanji's mocking tone.

"_Obviously,_ I came here to enjoy your company, you know I _adore_ you," he snapped back with a sarcasm overdose. That earned him a smirk from Sanji mirroring his own.

"Who wouldn't," Sanji retorted with a playful fighting tone.

"Oh, you'd be surprised to know," Zoro bit back, quickly falling into their own interaction rhythm.

Which Sanji cut off when he got serious again. Now that he looked at him, he really looked tired. And not just physically. Silence filled the room, both of them absently looking at each other with their faces held by their own hands, elbows against the counter. It was almost funny how they had mirrored each other's pose without realizing.

Zoro wondered why it didn't feel uncomfortable at all. But he didn't feel the need of looking away and neither did Sanji, apparently. Actually, that had been the most comfortable and calm he'd been in a while, there, lost in Sanji's blue orb.

Sanji's worried wrinkles started to disappear and he slowly switched from being anxious to plainly tired and surprisingly relaxed. He had been trying to read what was behind Zoro's steel eye and at some point he had just lost his purpose, simply staring back for the sake of it. It felt weirdly calming. And intimate.

Time went by without any of them moving or looking away, their bodies slowly relaxing. Sanji was starting to feel sleepiness invading his body for the first time in a while when Zoro's brain seemed to return back home and the swordsman opened his mouth to speak, not leaving Sanji's eye.

"You know, right before Luffy found me, I starved for more than a week. Some marine bastard arrested me and promised me he'd let me go if I survived a month without eating."

Sanji's expression changed as Zoro spoke, becoming unreadable. But he noticed the tension back in his shoulders.

"He intended to kill me anyways, the asshole," Zoro shrugged, remembering the experience. "I think... I think I managed nine days before Luffy came by and freed me. Then I joined him."

Sanji hadn't spoken yet. He just stared at him and Zoro realized something deep within the cook had changed as he kept on talking. He didn't know why he expected Sanji to answer, but the cook never did. Now that he took a better look... Was there pain in his eyes? Sympathy? He was trying really hard to read him, but he couldn't, for the life of him, decipher what it was that the cook was looking at him with.

Zoro felt a shiver run down his spine and forced himself to continue.

"What I'm trying to say is..." he started. But Sanji's expression was finally changing into something he _could_ read and it was dangerously reminding him of a hostile snarl. He didn't let it take him back and instead resumed what he was saying, feeling tension fill the room. "What I'm trying to say is that, if we can't really manage to hunt something down, I could... you know, stop eating, and the food would last longer."

Now it was definitely a snarl. No, it was worse. Zoro hadn't even seen that face on the cook when he fought against his enemies. That made something in Zoro's stomach twist, but he forced himself not to back off, even when the atmosphere had turned oppressive as fuck. He didn't know why, but he felt the urge to defend himself.

"You know I can take it. It's no big deal and the crew needs it."

Sanji was trembling. His eyes were still boring a hole in Zoro's and Zoro felt like he couldn't keep his stare in place like this. There was suddenly something _very_ wrong in the situation. All calm had evaporated and now everything Zoro could feel was a legitimate apprehension of losing his life. He had never seen Sanji this angry. He didn't even understand what he had done wrong.

When Sanji moved, Zoro braced himself for impact, not finding it in him to physically defend himself from the incoming attack. Even though that one would hurt like a bitch.

But the attack never came. Zoro blinked and looked back at Sanji, who had stood up and was glaring at him in a way that actually hurt. What made it worse was the hurt behind Sanji's eyes, the primal rage that showed in his features as his whole body trembled in an attempt to control himself.

His voice was surprisingly steady when it finally made it out of his mouth.

"I'll pretend I haven't heard that," he started. Then he jabbed a finger against the swordsman's scarred chest, which clenched at the contact, not knowing what to expect. "If I ever hear you suggest it again I'm going to personally kick your ass out of this ship. _You. Will. Eat_."

And that was mandatory. No room for a reply, no room for an argument. It was imperative and Zoro didn't find his voice to say otherwise. What had that been? How had the situation switched to that? Damn, he couldn't stand seeing Sanji looking like this. But he had apparently fucked up and didn't even know why.

"Out of my kitchen," Sanji ordered in a glacial tone that cut deeper than his katana's blades.

Zoro didn't register his body obediently walking to the door until his hand reached the door knob.

And, suddenly, rage kicked in. What the fuck. His mouth was spilling words before he even thought about what he was saying.

"I'll eat."

He turned to face Sanji, who was frozen in place, clearly having trouble restraining himself from kicking the swordsman's face in. Which only riled Zoro up further.

"But only, and I mean it, _only_ if you fucking eat as well. Don't think I haven't noticed you're barely eating, bastard."

"But I fucking ate!" Sanji snapped, nearly losing it. "It's not like I intend to fucking starve myself like you just suggested you'd do!"

"That's what I hate about you!" Zoro snarled, crossing the distance between them and getting into Sanji's personal space. "You're always like this, damn it! What the fuck, Sanji! Do you think you are the only one with the right to make sacrifices for the crew?!"

"What?!" Sanji snorted in disbelief, rage taking over his features. "_You_'ve got some nerve telling _me_ this after Thriller Bark, you damn self-sacrificing bastard! And now you just go and offer to starve yourself! Don't you dare tell me that when you're the worst when it comes to this kind of shit!"

"And what the fuck does Thriller Bark have to do with this?!"

Sanji's insides burned. He suddenly saw red and only realized he had kicked Zoro to the other side of the galley when he saw him slammed against the wall and groaning in pain.

"You don't fucking understand!"

"No, you are fucking right, I don't! Why the fuck is it only you who can carry the whole crew's burden?! What about the rest, you egotistical bastard!"

"That's _my_ line!" Sanji all but screamed as he straddled Zoro in place, barely restraining himself from punching the swordsman, which he had been about to do just now. His hands weren't at fault after all. "What does it feel like, uh?! Are you angry?! Well, damn _perfect_, because that's how I felt like in Thriller Bark, so shut the fuck up and stop telling me what I can't do when you're the first one to do it without a care in the world for how the people who care about you will feel!"

"I still don't understand what Thriller Bark has to do with all this shit!" Zoro yelled, not getting anything anymore.

"Because you're a fucking idiot, that's why!"

Zoro's eyes bored into blue as his fist reached for Sanji's shirt and tie to aggressively drag him inches away from his face as he yelled, "Will you shut up and fucking listen for a minute?!"

Sanji startled at the sudden closeness and Zoro saw his mouth shut and his jaw clench to a painful level, abruptly freezing in place. Zoro sighed in relief and ordered his thoughts so that he could properly get them through before the blonde snapped again.

"I promise, I fucking _swear,_ I _will_ eat if that's what you want, but only and _only if_ you don't fool around with your own eating," he informed, firm voice and stern look in place.

He saw the beginning of a snarl in Sanji's expression and he realized he was about to stand up and leave, and his big calloused hands darted to the cook's hips, griping him with bruising force to keep him in place and force him to listen.

"I mean it."

Sanji's body started to calm down, his ragged breath reaching Zoro's face, his trembling and heavy breathing reverberating against Zoro's stomach, where he was seated.

Suddenly, his visible eye seemed to become understanding of the words spoken, not leaving Zoro's, who was trying to convey his determination silently. Zoro's thumbs, out of their own accord, started to soothingly draw small pressing circles on Sanji's hips without him processing his own actions. The motion seemed to calm Sanji down.

Once he realized what he was doing, Zoro asked himself why Sanji was letting him and, even more, why he was doing it in the first place. But he couldn't tear his eye from Sanji, taking in the way his expression started to relax, the way his breath calmed down, the way his tights felt hot against his sides, how Sanji's precious hands warmly rested against Zoro's chest no longer clutching his clothes, the way his body got rid of the tension and anger at the same rhythm Zoro's thumbs massaged gentle circles against his hips, no longer holding him in place but just soothingly rubbing there for the sake of it.

He definitely ignored the weird pounding in his chest as the room was filled with a whole new kind of tension.

"Sanji, I need you to promise back. Okay?" he finally let out in a shaggy breath. That was the fourth or fifth time that day Sanji's name had slipped through his lips. That was definitely a record.

Sanji took a few moments to answer but, when he did, it was with a nod. His eye was still buried in Zoro's. And with the intense way he was looking at him, Zoro suddenly felt something hot launching south and... no, no, no, no, _NO_! Zoro's grip on Sanji's hips suddenly tightened, making the blonde flinch, but he still didn't move, just looked at him with slight surprise at the gesture. For fuck's sake, that was so _not_ happening! What the fuck, _whatthefuck_. What. The. Fuck!

Zoro thanked his lucky star that Sanji was sat on his stomach and not further down. That would have probably earned Zoro an early death. He felt his face tense as he thought of a way out and tried to keep his cool so that he didn't give anything away. He didn't need that. Shit! That should have never happened to start with! The fuck was wrong with him!

"Hey," he rasped awkwardly when he trusted himself to speak. Still, he was quite proud his voice wasn't far away from composed and casual. "Hey, cook, let's go to bed. We're both tired," he suggested as he tensely patted the side of Sanji's hip in order to snap them both off their trance and urge Sanji to stand the fuck up. Which he did, finally leaving Zoro's gaze while sighing.

"Sorry about that."

Zoro froze in place, forgetting about his damned sneaky hard-on as the cook's apologize sank in. It had sounded sincere. And it wasn't often that the cook apologized to him. Zoro blinked and awkwardly stood up, thanking his loose clothing for covering anything that would have led to what would have definitely been the most uncomfortable moment of his life.

"Uhm, yeah. Don't worry."

Sanji nodded and lit a cigarette, his calm and suave stance back in place. Then he walked to his notebook and working stuff in order to keep on doing inventory or whatever he had been about to do before Zoro walked in.

Zoro scratched the back of his hair as he carefully approached the cook.

"Hey," he started again, catching Sanji's attention back. When Sanji looked at him he really felt like blushing, but held an awkward gaze and fought it off. "Sleep?"

"Nah, you go. I need to work on this," Sanji waved as he went back to his devices, apparently oblivious to what had just happened. He really looked tired. Deflated.

"Come on, shit-cook, you need sleep, stop being fucking stubborn!" Zoro insisted, not daring to close the distance separating them. He was actually glad he found it in him to fall back to his usual way of addressing the cook. That felt normal. That felt safe. That totally made him forget about the little situation his nether parts had just gone through. Speaking of which, part of his brain was already thinking of castrating himself after going through such a villainous treachery courtesy of his unhelpful body or brain or wherever that had come from. But he'd have time to think about it later. Right now he needed to face the suddenly pissed off expression the cook was directing at him _while_ keeping a casual pose that didn't reveal the bulge in his pants. Why he hadn't just left already instead of risking it being noticed, he didn't even know.

"Don't push it, marimo," Sanji warned with a small snarl.

Oh, so Sanji was still pissed. Of course. Moody bastard. Having been able to calm him down had already been a great feat, he shouldn't have expected to make his hissy fit fade away just like that. Well, pissed off Sanji he was used to and he could gladly take it. At least it wasn't furious Sanji anymore. The bad furious kind, not the one he enjoyed fighting.

"Whatever," Zoro shrugged, judging it best to just make a safe escape instead of pushing his luck further. The previous chest-tightening fight and the later small southern accident had been enough risks taken for tonight, thank you very much.

Tension had already dissipated and now he could finally breathe normally, the situation slowly sailing to their usual known interaction territory, much to his relief.

"Night."

"...Night."

Zoro paused just before making his exit, turning yet again to the cook, who sensed his small halt and looked at him with a frown, waiting for whatever he had to say. And Zoro wanted to tell him to go to sleep, he wanted to tell him not to worry so much, he wanted to tell him he could count on him, he wanted to tell him he didn't like that tired face he was wearing because it made him worried, but he didn't find the words to do so. That would have earned him a kick anyways.

"We'll try again tomorrow," was what he finally managed, a small smile tugging his lips. Then it turned into a smirk. "Hold your shitty-self together, crap-cook."

He barely dodged the spatula thrown at him and heard the cook insult him with what he had to admit was a colourful ingenious palette of curses before he closed the door behind him in time to block a flying shoe aimed at his face.

* * *

When he finally made it to his hammock, he was not amusedly smiling anymore but asking himself the same question over and over and over again.

_What the hell?_

Zoro was no fortune teller, but he already knew that it was going to be a long night without an ounce of sleep.

Great.

* * *

**A/N: **Hiiiiii! So, did you like this one? Things are starting to get messy between them! I hope you liked it, I'm working on the next one! :)

Thanks for all your reviews!


	11. Chapter 11 - Special Bond

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* * *

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**Chapter 11**

**Special Bond**

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* * *

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Sanji frowned at his notebook, tapping the tip of his pencil against its surface.

He couldn't concentrate on what he was doing, much to his annoyance. Planning meals wasn't an easy job, contrary to what some may think, much less without many supplies he could work with. They would seriously have a problem if he didn't think of something or they didn't manage to fish something. Some kind of fatalistic instinct told him there were no fishes to be caught and there weren't going to be. He tried to brush the thought away, leading his attention to his notebook once again, only to end up sighing and hiding his face behind his hands, profusely rubbing it.

That had been a nasty fight. Not their usual kind of bickering or playful fights, but a serious one. Sanji didn't really know what had gotten into him, but deep inside he was quite proud he had been able to restrain himself for so long before actually kicking Zoro for good measure. Hell, that had been a hard kick. He vaguely wondered if maybe he'd broken some of the swordsman's ribs...

But, damn, didn't the bastard deserve it! Just thinking of what he had suggested made him want to get up, wake the moss-head from his sleep and drag him out to kick his ass again. Self-sacrificing martyr-like bastard! He was always the same and Sanji hated that side of him. He hated it because it fucking hurt. Just remembering Thriller Bark made him want to kill something. And yet, the bastard had dared to scold him for cutting up his own rations. He did have some nerve telling him that as if he hadn't just suggested to starve himself for the sake of the crew, damn him!

He realized he was storming to the door with the sole intention of beating him up but, once his wandering brain caught up with his actions, he forced himself to sit back down and calm the fuck down. He was pissed off, right, but no need to cause another scene. The initial primal rage had vanished and he had some self-control left so he ordered himself to relax.

And while he did, the memory of Zoro's thumbs massaging his hips assaulted him, his cheeks deeply blushing as it was the first time he gave it some thought. He hadn't really noticed back when he was sat on Zoro's stomach, he only felt rage and worry and all those shitty feelings wash away at the same rhythm Zoro's soothing fingers had taken while he got lost in his one eye.

But now it was time to ask himself what the hell had happened. Seeing it from a certain distance, it _definitely_ had been weird. He didn't know where that had come from, he didn't even know if Zoro had noticed what he was doing, but what bugged him the most was that he didn't mind. It had been relaxing. It had been weirdly hypnotic, damn intimate and kind of... just right what Sanji needed somehow, seeing as it had been _Zoro_ who was trying to calm him down.

He didn't hear the galley door opening and closing and he didn't hear the padding footsteps until Luffy's face was practically plastered to his. Sanji gasped and jumped about a feet in the air as he regained some personal space.

"Luffy!"

"Sanji! I want meat! I'm hungry!" Luffy informed with his usual beam.

Sanji sighed and frowned at him, sitting back in place. "No food, Luffy. Sorry."

Surprisingly enough, Luffy just nodded and sat in front of him, as if he had understood and accepted Sanji's negative, which couldn't really be possible because, like... I mean, he was _Luffy_! Sanji blinked at him, stunned, not really believing what his own eyes were telling him. Monkey D. Luffy accepting a meal's refusal? His usual line of action would have certainly been refusing his refusal, that's how his captain's brain worked. What the heck, was the world ending or something?!

Sanji was dragged out of his line of thought as Luffy's expression turned half serious.

"You fought with Zoro."

Sanji froze in place, his eyes on Luffy's, trying to read what was going through the teen's head without much luck. Shit, he had heard. Well, it's not like they hadn't been loud, but Sanji had hoped the rest of the crew would be sleeping and oblivious to their nasty confrontation.

"How do you know?"

"Heard you yelling at each other. You slamming him against a wall wasn't exactly subtle either. You kicked _hard_ this time," Luffy shrugged.

"I always kick hard, Luffy," Sanji retorted. He knew they were both aware that neither Zoro or Sanji restrained themselves when fighting each other. That's what made their fights so... enjoyable and stress-relieving. It shouldn't really come as a surprise.

"That's not what I mean," Luffy said, tilting his head to the side, looking at him as if he was stupid. "What did Zoro do to infuriate you so much?"

Damn Luffy and his perceptive side. The guy really seemed like the dumb type, which he was, no doubt, but sometimes he just had this side of him that didn't really match his usual character but that was always sharp and to the point. Sanji sighed, knowing a lost battle when he saw it.

"Bastard suggested to stop eating so that food would last longer for the rest of the crew," he curtly explained, feeling himself heating up as that pissed-off feeling waved at him again. He hadn't exactly told Luffy the extent of their problem regarding their food supplies, but at this point he'd do better than to assume the guy was dumb. He didn't need to explain further for Luffy to know they _had _a problem. A bigger problem than Franky and him had let out.

"Oh," Luffy commented, understanding. After all, he knew what Sanji had gone through during his childhood and knew how much of a sensitive topic that was for him.

Sanji opened both his hands in the air as he shrugged, letting the other know how much of an idiot Zoro was, and how much he couldn't help getting angry at that.

"But that's what you've been doing as well," Luffy suddenly blurted. "I mean, you haven't stopped eating, but you are eating less so that others can eat more. Isn't it stupid to get angry at Zoro for that when you do the same?"

Sanji stared at him with his mouth agape. Damn his captain. He couldn't find, for the life of him, a smart retort to give. He just stayed there, looking at Luffy as if he had grown a second head.

"Have you two sorted it out?" Luffy asked, curious and only slightly worried, maybe because he probably knew the answer already.

"Uhm, yeah, kind of," Sanji managed in between his stupor. "I mean, I'm still angry at him and he's still an utter idiot, but we're fine... As fine as Zoro and I can be, I mean. But yeah, it's sorted out, don't worry, captain."

Luffy's face stretched into a wide grin as he nodded, happy to hear that. "Excellent. I don't like my nakama fighting like that. We're all friends!"

Sanji felt a small apologizing smile tugging at his lips when facing his captain's antics.

"Anyways, you're both idiots," Luffy resumed, earning a frown from Sanji. "But it's fine since you two are very good at keeping each other's idiocy at bay!" he guffawed.

Sanji's scowl grew deeper and he maybe, just maybe, felt a slight blush tinting his cheeks.

"You two have a really special bond, you know," Luffy commented with a sincere smile as he got out of the galley, only turning to Sanji to finish voicing his thoughts out loud. "It's just a shame that you're both dumb enough not to acknowledge it."

Sanji thought he had seen a small pout in Luffy's face before he disappeared behind the closing door, leaving the cook alone in his small realm.

What. The. Fuck.

* * *

Zoro woke up with a prodding headache that told him it was about time to put his brain to good use and think. Something he didn't particularly like to do, specially when he had just woken up.

The swordsman groaned and stood up, stretching his muscles and mentally giving up as he waved hello to his sleepy brain cells. He had to suppress a growl when his ribs complained and his eyes darted down to find a large, really _large_ bruise travelling from side to side on his abdomen, right where Sanji had kicked last night. The pain was sharp and it took a while until it subsided, even with Zoro trying to nurse the wound by slightly bending forwards and staying still so as not to upset or stretch it any more. Damn, the cook could kick.

Somewhere along the hem of his black loose sleeping pants he could see the edges of the bruise that ran from hip to hip, also inflicted by the cook. Though he had received that one while Sanji protected him as he could in the middle of the storm. Zoro groaned again, deciding he was way too marked by Sanji for his taste. Was the blonde planning to make his skin resemble a zebra's or what?

He finally found it in him to stand up since his brain had started to work but wasn't being particularly helpful at the moment. He tried not to trip in the dark as he unconsciously approached Sanji's hammock to see if he was in there. He realized the hammock was empty and his temper started to get the best of him until he distinguished messy sheets and a discarded shirt on it. The one Sanji had been wearing yesterday. Which meant the cook _had_ gone to sleep at some point. He felt a sigh leave his lips and nodded to himself. Okay, he was cool with that. At least the cook had slept. He decided he'd do his mood a favour if he didn't ask how many hours of sleep the blonde had allowed himself, though.

So that meant it must be morning already and Sanji must be cooking in the kitchen. If the rest of his crewmates were still sleeping and snoring their life away without a care in the world, that must mean it was pretty damn early too. Good. He needed private quiet time to think and make his headache fade away.

When his bare feet felt grass beneath them, he was able to relax a bit. The sun was barely raising, sky still dark and stained with lingering fading stars. He walked to one of his usual spots yawning loudly and plopped himself down, finding a comfortable sitting position. He gave a small glance to the galley door, where he knew Sanji would be. Then he sighed in resignation as he closed his eyes and started the much needed yet dreaded conversation with his brain.

_So_.

He had had an erection while Sanji was straddling him right after a really nasty fight.

Probably the least convenient moment for his body to react that way. It was actually worrying; if Sanji had noticed he'd be a dead man by now, no doubt. He had barely managed to calm him down and that had already been unexpected. He tried to bat away the memory of his thumbs unconsciously rubbing against Sanji's hips in a soothing way. That was the last of his problems. Back to the erection one. Yes, that one was a big problem. _Where the hell had that come from?!_

Instead of freaking out (since last night he had been too tired to give it a second thought and it was now all coming down to him), he focused and tried to be reasonable about it. He admitted to himself it wasn't strictly the first time something like this happened. He had a thing for challenging fights. Sometimes a damn good fight was even more rewarding than sex, at least to him. And Sanji offered plenty of those almost on a daily basis, waking all of his competitive instincts, making adrenaline rush through his body like an explosion as the raw pleasure of a challenging and overwhelming fight washed over him. Sanji's daring grin fueled his own every time he was on its receiving end, and he knew there was no holding back, since he enjoyed every moment of it just as much as he knew Sanji did.

They had this kind of deep understanding when it came to fighting, being against each other or back to back. He didn't have that... thing, whatever it was, with anyone else. It liberated them in ways not many things could. Or at least Zoro felt this way.

_So. _

Fights with the cook, may the bastard never hear this from his mouth, were fantastic, challenging and raw.

_So. _

Sometimes, _just sometimes_ and Zoro'd jump off a cliff before saying it out loud, Zoro ended a particularly intense fight feeling disturbingly aroused and having to run away to the bathroom with some lame excuse so that the cook wouldn't notice the tent in Zoro's pants and feel himself invited to kick his brains out for real.

All in all it wasn't _that_ strange. Disturbing, yes, but it had happened before. And Zoro swore it was the thrill of the fight, and some damaged brain cell of his that somehow kept connecting it with sex, that caused those arousals to happen every now and then. It had nothing to do with the cook. Nope. Not _at all_.

_Though_ it only ever happened with Sanji, and Zoro's list of fighting in general wasn't exactly lacking or short. _Oh, thanks, yeah, that was really helpful, _Zoro scolded his brain. Ugh, he definitely had more than one damaged brain cell in there.

He reminded himself that the purpose of this small meditating time was to convince himself that last night's incident didn't have anything to do with the cook's person. Pouring mental images of Sanji's twists and turns when he fought, his flexibility making him bend in ways that should be impossible, his defying agitated scowl when he kicked, his nose slightly wrinkling with every snarl, his cigarette hanging loose between his lips... No. His stupid brain pouring those kind of images didn't exactly help his case _andwhywashegettinghardagaindamnit_!

He face-palmed and groaned loudly, cursing himself out loud and trying to think of something that could counterattack the aftermath of his brain's mutiny. He tried with Franky's tightest speedo, but he was too used to it by now for it to have any effect. The image had already killed all the neurons it had to kill since he had to endure the sight every day. He tried with Usopp in a bikini. He groaned even louder, almost whining in utter despair at the mental picture. He'd have nightmare's that night. Well, at least he had solved his little – not so little, pun intended - problem down there. That if he hadn't killed the poor thing forever.

"I'm not sure I want to ask what you're doing."

The damn voice startled him and almost made him gasp. There was the cause of his growing headache. Damn him. Zoro slowly lifted his head and fixed Sanji with a glare.

"No, you don't."

Sanji shrugged and brought his cigarette to his lips as he scanned the horizon. Then Zoro realized the cook hadn't come from the galley but from somewhere else.

"Where have you been?" he found himself asking.

Sanji raised an eyebrow at that. Zoro realized a bit too late that he shouldn't have asked and slapped himself mentally. That wasn't in their usual relationship frame.

"What? Missed me, Marimo?"

"I'll strangle you," Zoro growled, embarrassment taking the best of him as he remembered why he hated the cook and why last night's hard-on _couldn't_ have anything to do with his person. _At all_.

"That looks nasty," Sanji commented as he pointed his cigarette at Zoro's abdomen. Zoro looked at it and registered the large ugly bruise, which was getting darker and darker by the moment. Then he blinked at the cook.

"Sorry about that," Sanji muttered while looking away with a genuine apologetic expression taking over his features.

No. That wasn't in their usual relationship frame either. Zoro tried to calm an unsettling feeling in his stomach and shook his head, awkwardly fixing his glare on the grass beneath him.

"S'alright," he said. "Doesn't hurt."

"Bullshit," Sanji retorted, his tone annoyed. Zoro looked back at him, feeling more comfortable when he met the blonde's pissed-off look. Yeah, that was in their usual relationship frame. Something about that helped him calm down. "Has Chopper taken a look at it yet?"

"Nope."

Sanji rolled his eyes. No use in trying to talk some sense in that marimo head of his. Trying to get Zoro to visit Chopper in order to get treated was like trying to dissuade Luffy of getting himself into trouble. That is, pointless. Not that Sanji was much better himself.

"I may go see Chopper later," Zoro shrugged, not really promising anything.

"I kicked hard."

"You did."

"You pissed me off."

"My line. Still angry?"

Sanji shrugged and sat in front of him. "As long as you don't say something as stupid as you did last night ever again, I'll let it pass."

Zoro frowned at him and decided not to remind the cook of the fact that he'd been acting stupid with the food too. No need to rile him up any more, he'd had enough with yesterday's fight. That hadn't been a pleasant one. That one had been nasty and serious, he had managed to press the only button he shouldn't press on Sanji. No need to repeat the experience.

His stupid brain had to come knocking at his sanity's door then, telling him that if it hadn't been the kind of fight he enjoyed... well, it couldn't have been the cause of his unwanted arousal, could it? He could almost see his brain growing a face for the sole purpose of looking smug and mocking him. Enough! It wasn't the time to be thinking about that, not in front if the cook! Some paranoid side of him was afraid that Sanji had acquired mind-reading powers and he didn't really need to be pummeled to the ground by a seething blonde.

"Uhm... Sorry if I upset you too..." Zoro mumbled when he remembered Sanji's pained expression as he kicked him. He had been furious but mostly hurt. Having to swallow his pride to apologize helped him get undesired thoughts out of his head, since that action took all of his efforts and concentration.

"What about this one?"

Zoro looked at Sanji and followed his gaze, which was fixed on his hips, where the edge of his other blonde-inflicted bruise stuck out.

"Ah," Zoro smirked and lowered the hem of his pants until all of the bruise could be seen, making quite a show of exhibiting his sculpted v-line, pulling the pants dangerously _low_. "Yours too."

Sanji turned all shades of red until he thought he was about to combust and a sharp kick collided against Zoro's knee. "Put that back in place, you indecent bastard!" Sanji screeched, making an effort to look utterly disgusted at the sight of the most perfect v-line he had ever seen. "Fucking shameless marimo!" he muttered as he lit himself another cigarette.

Zoro burst into laughter at his reaction, letting go of the hem of his pants as it went back into place with a plop. He suppressed a wince and cursed his idiocy since the sharp slapping contact with the bruise made it hurt like a bitch.

"I don't remember kicking you there," Sanji commented, looking everywhere but the bruise or Zoro's eyes.

"You didn't. It's from when you pinned me against the railing with your leg so that we didn't fly away," Zoro explained, feeling a bit more comfortable and relaxed. Exactly the contrary of how Sanji was feeling right now. "It actually hurts like a bitch," he teased with a smirk, see if he could make him apologize again. He had been too shocked at the miracle of Sanji doing so to gloat over the last apology.

"Well, fuck you, I saved your ass, so you should be thanking me instead of complaining," Sanji snapped with an irritated look. Then his expression turned smug, which usually meant bad news for Zoro. "Plus, we're even with this one since you bruised me pretty bad too."

Zoro froze when his eye followed Sanji's hands as the blonde talked. By now his shirt was unbuttoned and the bastard was opening it widely so that Zoro could take a look at his chest which, indeed, flaunted a pretty bad bruise running from side to side where Zoro's forearm had pinned the cook against the railing as they flew away of their doomed fate back in the center of the storm. His abdomen was slightly bent as he was leaning forward in his sitting position. The bastard had defined killing abs despite his lean figu-_Nope_. Abort. Back to the bruise. _Back to the bruise_.

Sanji was smugly smirking at him. Zoro frowned in response.

"Not gonna apologize for saving your ass," he growled, trying to distract himself with the annoyance that kind of smirk awakened in him.

"You mean while I was saving yours."

"Whatever."

The sky was being painted in fainter colours and pastels, washing the remnants of the night away. It was chilly, Zoro realized as he slightly shivered when weak breeze blew by.

"If you're cold go put on something, you damn show-off," Sanji scoffed pointing at his bare tan chest with his cigarette.

The fact that Sanji was directly looking at his bruised six-pack delayed Zoro's retort as he had to force his brain to concentrate.

"'Cause you're wearing your shirt buttoned up like a nun, being all demure," he replied flatly while pointing at Sanji's open shirt, which currently framed the blonde's torso leaving nothing to the imagination.

Sanji snorted. "Demure? Is it your word of the day? Quite the vocabulary for a sprouting plant like yourself. Well done, I'm proud."

"Fuck off, scrawny bastard dartbrow," Zoro growled in irritation, secretly thanking the fact that they had moved to his comfort zone once again. That was more like them.

"What, now? _Scrawny_? Thought your brain and your ugly face were your only damaged items, I didn't know you were also _blind_," the blonde snarkily retorted while gesturing with a hand over his own abs with a cocky smirk.

"You don't really want to start this argument, curly-brow," Zoro bit back as he straightened himself and tensed his own tan abs for the cook to see. If it was muscle mass they were arguing about, Zoro was _definitely_ the victor, he didn't lift monstrous weights for nothing, even if it wasn't exactly for the purpose of looking good as he had better things to care about. Wait, were they really arguing about who had better abs? How had the conversation ended up there?

Sanji raised an amused eyebrow. "Mine are natural, bastard, I don't go around lifting weights and training like a psycho."

"And _that_ is why you have a scrawny ass."

"My ass is _fantastic,_ excuse you. Decidedly better than yours, you damn over-worked Neanderthal."

"You wish, shit-cook."

"Poor deluded bastard, you _really_ think yours is better than mine, don't you?" Sanji dramatically sighed in a patronizing tone as he looked at Zoro as if he was particularly stupid.

Zoro suddenly bit back what he was about to answer and blinked, freezing for three seconds.

"Cook?"

"What," Sanji took a drag, looking at him with a bored expression to let him know how much he wanted to listen to what he had to say. Which was somewhere below zero.

"Mmmh... How do I put this? Uh... Couldn't help but notice that we're arguing about... Uh... who has a better ass," Zoro deadpanned.

His expression was immediately mirrored as Sanji's cigarette froze midway to his lips. He blinked once. Then twice.

"Uh... Yeah, looks like it."

Zoro blinked again and Sanji blinked back, both frozen in place.

"Uh... I'll go... Uh... Make breakfast. Because... Uh... that's what I do. You know, I cook. And it's morning so, uh... Yeah, breakfast," Sanji babbled as he awkwardly stood up, deadpan expression still in place.

"Uh... Yeah, I'll... I'll meditate... or train... or nap, or something," Zoro muttered back as he scratched the back of his hair. "Because, you know... uh... that's what I do."

"You lazy bastard," Sanji retorted as he lit yet another cigarette, feeling the awkward moment dissipate. How many had he smoked already? Damn, the swordsman really put him on edge.

Sanji's pissed off tone brought Zoro back to reality as the situation once again sailed the known waters of their ordinary relationship. Sanji turned to head to the galley and suddenly a thought came to Zoro's mind, remembering his initial question that morning.

"Wait, where were you before?"

Sanji turned with a raised eyebrow, apparently surprised, but then smirked and Zoro knew the cook was biting back a remark of how much Zoro had missed him or about if Zoro was his mother or something. He could read it in the bastard's eyes. Luckily for both of them and the security of Sunny, Sanji stuck to a simple non-mocking answer.

"Wandered around this stupid rock for a while, see if I found something I hadn't yesterday. No such luck," he informed as he shrugged it off. But Zoro could see his expression, bordering the defeated line, and he didn't like it one bit. Zoro wondered if there was a single moment Sanji hadn't been worried over the last few days. Maybe when they were arguing about their abs and asses; he hadn't seemed really troubled back then. Shit, how had they ended up arguing about something that stupid, again?

Zoro simply nodded and closed his eyes as he sat in a meditating stance so that the cook knew the conversation was over. He heard his footsteps walk away and relaxed.

Well, that had been weird and surreal and utterly _idiotic_. Not the kind of conversation he had ever expected to have with the cook. Not the kind of conversation he had ever expected to have with anyone at all. Though it would only be normal for them to fight over something stupid once one of them had claimed he was better than the other at said thing. It just had happened to be their asses this time. He had no doubt they could argue for hours about who had better aligned eyelashes for that matter. The problem was that his body and brain were currently leading a rebellion against his sanity and imagining the cook's ass didn't exactly help his case. Zoro growled in frustration and settled for a healthy 'what the fuck' because, honestly, he didn't know what to think anymore.

Maybe he just needed to get laid. Wait, what?

Or maybe he just needed to stop being all over the cook in his paranoid protective fit, since the last few days he had invested more of his time worrying and watching Sanji for any changes of mood than training or napping. Which was quite illustrative coming from him.

Or maybe he just needed to stop being a fucking idiot and shut his hyperactive brain down. Yeah, he could use a nap.

* * *

Sanji closed the kitchen door behind him, a small smirk drawn on his face.

"What the fuck?" he voiced out loud.

That had been awkward and decidedly embarrassing as fuck, but his mood was somehow lighter.

Had he just tried to compete with the swordsman about who had better abs? What kind of suicidal argument was that! He was bound to lose against Zoro's bulky figure, not that Sanji had anything to be ashamed of; he knew he had nice defined abs and a hot as fuck body, but damn, trying to show his muscles off to the swordsman was a lost cause.

But then the conversation had ended up competing on who had a better ass which was definitely weird and embarrassing and stupid altogether, and he had to be grateful that Zoro had beat some sense into the whole situation or, knowing them and how they didn't back down from a challenge no matter what, they'd be _really _comparing their asses right now. Or would they?

Wait, wait, wait, what the hell! Sanji let out a mortified growl as he face-palmed and let his hand painfully rub down his face as he stared at the suddenly very interesting ceiling.

It had started being a serious conversation, for God's sake, he had walked to the swordsman in order to apologize and all that shit because just _last night_ they had had the nastiest fight they'd had in a while and he really felt bad, and he had just swallowed his pride to let him know, and Zoro had somehow ended up apologizing as well, which was something absolutely exceptional and serious coming from them both, and _ yet _they had ended up arguing about their respective _asses_. How had it all come down to that again?

Too much of a mindfuck, he decided, and he really didn't have time to mull over whatever had gotten into them in the last few days. Because there had definitely been something weird haunting their relationship ever since Nami got hurt and the swordsman had started acting weird – or was it himself?- but it was easier and far more convenient to bat it away and settle for his familiar 'what the fuck'.

Yeah, leaving that question hanging in the air every time he didn't understand what the hell was happening during his interactions with the swordsman did the trick. It was a self-defense mechanism, really. Living in that crazy ship with his crazy crew required some just-let-it-be attitude. If he had to question his captain's stupidity every time he did something stupid, or why Franky had to wear that offending speedo or why the fuck Zoro was growing moss for hair, just to put some illustrating examples, Sanji would have already gone nuts.

So yeah, the what-the-fuck trump card always came in handy in that crew. Just ask yourself _the_ question with the suitable dumbfounded expression and then shrug it off. You'll find yourself suffering from far less migraines at the end of the day.

Once that particular nagging feeling was shrugged away, Sanji concentrated on making breakfast, trying not to get discouraged by the smaller amount of food he'd be able to cook. He couldn't help but feel worry creep its way into his stomach, though. That was one of the two problems he didn't seem to be able to shrug away no matter how hard he tried. That and the guilt he felt every time he thought of Nami's injury. Crap.

Sanji let out a shivering breath and regained his composure, waving the thoughts away so that he could work in peace but knowing they'd come back later to bother him once again.

The lighter mood resulting from his earlier bickering with Zoro did help to ease the tension and unease he felt, though.

A small smile tugged at his lips when he agreed with himself once again that his ass was way more fantastic than Zoro's.

Obviously.

* * *

**TBC**

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**A/N:** helloooooo there! Here's another one for you guys! I really hope you like it, let me know what you think! As always, thank you so much for your reviews, they really do help and they make me so happy!

I'll try an update another one soon! I'm working on it and it's almost done!

:)


	12. Chapter 12 - Stroke of Luck

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**Chapter 12**

**Stroke of Luck**

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Nami finally joined them for lunch.

Zoro couldn't help but smile when he saw her sitting with the rest of the crew, even if it was Nami. Her being a witch didn't mean he didn't appreciate the redhead as a nakama, and her presence definitely brought happiness over his crewmates.

Luffy, Usopp and Chopper were performing a weird-as-fuck dance that didn't exactly help their dignity, but it wasn't as if they cared or didn't do it daily, so they just danced the hell out of it. Brook was playing some upbeat tune with his ever-present violin and Franky was laughing for no apparent reason. Robin sat by Nami's side, chuckling and watching as the redhead rubbed her temples, feeling an incoming headache knocking at the doors of her head. But she was smiling. She had definitely lost weight, even if Sanji had done his best to feed her so that she'd get her health back, and she was paler than usual, actually looking tired; but most of all she looked happy to be back to normal life again.

Zoro felt happy.

Zoro would have definitely been happier if something wasn't off, though.

Namely, the damn cook.

Putting aside the fact that his brain had been unhelpfully coming back to their morning argument about who had a better butt, which he didn't need to be reminded of at all, thank you very much, Sanji's current behaviour was getting on his nerves. Not that he was doing anything annoying _in itself_, it was just that whole feeling of wrongness hitting again.

Luffy had demanded a feast to celebrate Nami's comeback and Sanji had obliged. Zoro had a list of mental reasons as to why the cook had agreed to Luffy's wishes even though they were running short on food supplies, none of which he liked. Be it that Nami was a female and Sanji became idiotic around women; the fact that Sanji wouldn't let the crew realize how bad of a situation they actually were in and so he'd try not to alarm them by not refusing, because he was an idiot and it was just like him to keep his troubles to himself and pretend nothing was wrong; or the worst, the fact that he still felt guilty for Nami's injury and so he felt the need to do anything within his reach to make it up to her. It was that last reality imprinted in Sanji's eyes every time he looked at Nami that drove Zoro nuts.

He was cooing and apparently acting like his usual self around her, but Zoro could see the guilt behind his blue eye every time he looked at her when thinking that nobody would notice. He looked happy to have her back, hell, he surely as hell was ecstatic about it, but Zoro was convinced that the bastard was still blaming himself. And Zoro couldn't stand it. Couldn't he give himself a break?

It's not like there was food abundance, because Sanji was purposely keeping the rations small and perfectly controled so as to not waste anything, but, in order to make it look like an actual feast, he had settled for cooking a variety of dishes he kept serving so that everyone could fill their plates with whatever they pleased. If the crew noticed the lack of abundance, they didn't say anything. The variety made up for it. The thing is that, with how busy Sanji was with having to work into lots of small different plates, the cook just kept going and coming from the stove, bringing dish after dish and not bothering to seat and gather some food for himself.

Well, didn't that irritate Zoro. Add the stares he was sending to Nami while trying to act normal and composed and you had a ballistic Zoro, who would indeed be very happy with his _fantastic_ day if his crew's cook wasn't a fucking idiot.

At some point he just snapped and his hand darted to Sanji's empty plate by his side, dragging it next to his as he started aggressively gathering small portions of everything coming to sight to ungracefully toss them on it. Nami scowled at him from the other side of the table when he reached for one of the dishes next to her as if he was punching something. Her glare suddenly changed from annoyed to surprised when she realized what he was doing. Not that Zoro noticed since he wasn't even paying her any attention anymore: he was too busy scowling at any living thing trying to snatch a portion of whatever he was getting away from him. When he considered that the bastard's plate was full enough he settled it down by his side with a loud and annoyed thump.

The shithead had fucking promised not to play with his own food for anyone's sake and getting that damn promise out of his mouth had taken him a nasty fight, so Zoro wasn't about to let the bastard break his word at the first chance he got just because he was a fucking idiot and thought that by playing busy nobody would notice! Well, guess what. Zoro was developing a worryingly obsessive sickness that kept him keeping an eye on the blonde like a fucking stalker, much to his own despair, so _yeah_, he had fucking noticed and he would shove Sanji's serving down the cook's throat, plate and all, if he didn't sit down and fucking ate by himself!

His inner outburst was interrupted when he realized that Nami was still looking at him with her mouth agape, trying to put two and two together, because if what she had just witnessed was Zoro gathering food to keep for Sanji, then nothing else made sense anymore. What was next? Luffy growing smart and polite and magically earning the ability to think twice before putting the crew into trouble? No way.

"Mind your own business," Zoro growled menacingly, wishing his glare was threatening enough as to make her look away and pretend it had never happened. It obviously wasn't.

Nami slowly smirked at him, giving him a knowing look and making sure she bored it into his brain. Once she was satisfied with the results, she looked away with a smug grin. Damn witch. She was gonna give him shit about this, he knew it.

His annoyance at their navigator switched when the smell of cigarettes passed by him in the form of a very busy Sanji carrying yet another dish. Now his bad mood was placed on him, poor unlucky bastard. When he walked by again after preparing a second round of snacks, Zoro grabbed a fistful of his tie and harshly pulled him down, earning a startled gasp from the cook.

"Fucking sit down and _eat_, you're getting on my nerves," he tensely growled. "Can't you fucking stay still for a minute?"

Sanji slapped his hand away, taking a second to register that the swordsman had _indeed_ sat him down next to him.

"What the hell?! Can't you see I'm busy?"

"I don't give a fuck. I'm seriously gonna snap if you don't stop buzzing around, you're annoying as fuck."

Good job, Zoro. Really nice and friendly. It was still better than telling him that he was worried that he wouldn't eat. That would earn him a really nasty kick he'd rather avoid like the plague given how their last fight had evolved.

Sanji was about to retort when Luffy stretched his neck over their crew to take a look at Sanji with his mouth full and questioning eyes.

"Ah, darn! You haven't eaten yet, Sanji! Oi, sit down and eat!" he ordered, suddenly realizing their cook hadn't yet done so until now. He obviously hadn't noticed before, but nobody had ever pointed it out. Then he looked around and gasped, suddenly looking the same way he did when he was about to be on the receiving end of one of Sanji's kicks. "Dammit, I ate almost everything! Uh, sorry, sorry!" he apologized as he made a strategic retreat to hide himself from the blonde's potential rage.

"Oh, don't worry, Luffy," Nami intervened.

Zoro glared at the grinning redhead, willing her to shut up. But her face was sly and her grin defying. Nope, it was a given, she _wasn't_ going to shut up.

"Sanji's got a nice full plate set aside for him just right there," she pointed, a devilish smile flashing at Zoro, who was about to go all shades of red, both from anger and embarrassment. "I wonder who may have been so kind as to do it."

Zoro was ready to send her back to the infirmary. Had he been happy that she was back? Well, scratch that!

"I did."

Both Zoro and Nami turned to Robin, Zoro with a dumbfounded expression and Nami with one that suggested that the older woman had just ruined all her fun. Zoro saw Robin giving him a small smile with her chin resting on her hands as she watched both him and Sanji with clear interest.

"Oh, Robin, my angel! Have I ever told you how beautiful your soul is? I'm so humbled that you bothered fighting these oafs for me! You've made me fall in love with you all over again!" Sanji cooed right after blinking for a few times. If Zoro hadn't been too busy trying to figure Robin out, he would have noticed that the cook's reaction had come with slight delay. Zoro rolled his eyes as he felt himself getting annoyed yet again, not bothering to stare at the cook's face by his side as he swooned over Robin. He didn't need that.

Instead, he settled for intently staring at Robin, see if he could find a silent answer to her heavenly intervention, but she just smiled her trademark unreadable smile back. As he saw that Sanji had finally started eating right by his side with his eyes fixed on his food, he felt grateful and tried to convey the feeling to the brunette with a quick relieved glance. He didn't need the crew to think that he was going soft on Sanji, _specially_ not Sanji. He'd seriously kick his ass for that. Moreover, he only went soft on Chopper, and only when he was being specially adorable. He was Roronoa Zoro, for crying out loud, he had a reputation to keep!

He felt Nami's gaze boring into him yet again and so he turned and gave her a death glare. She just smirked and stuck her tongue out.

Zoro sighed and finished his food. If Robin had covered for him, it meant she had seen him too. It wasn't like he needed to hide anything or justify himself to anyone for something as simple as filling a nakama's plate for him, which he had done pretty obviously for anyone around with eyes to see and two brain cells able to connect. Maybe that's why only the girls had paid attention to his food hunting. Just that it was for _Sanji_. And he was starting to feel self-conscious of how protective he was getting over him. He couldn't easily explain why, which had him troubled enough; so the less people who noticed, the less people trying to explain it for him. He could figure it out on his own, thank you very much.

* * *

It was late in the afternoon, as he was taking a nap, that Sanji came to him and woke him up with a light kick at his side.

"Oi, Marimo, wake your stupid ass."

Zoro sighed and wearily opened his functioning eye. "What the hell do you want, shit-cook?"

Sanji plopped by his side and lit a cigarette, giving him a side-long glance.

"You know, I don't need you babysitting me."

Zoro froze and slowly sat up, glaring at Sanji as if he was about to attack him. The blonde looked calm, though. Maybe slightly pissed off, but that was as far as the threat potential went.

"What are you talking about?"

"Mmmh, don't know," Sanji let some smoke slide out of his lips, shaping it into perfect circles. "Maybe the plate you filled for me during lunch?"

Zoro frowned, an uneasy feeling forming in his gut. As far as he knew, Sanji could kick his ass for it without blinking. He knew the blonde didn't like anyone treating him like he couldn't do things by himself, something Zoro hated to do _as well_, which made him have the urge to deny it and spare themselves the embarrassment. But he also knew he couldn't play dumb anymore.

"Who told you?"

"No one. You think I'm an idiot?" Sanji stared at him square in the eye. "Robin was sitting at the other end of the table."

"Well, she's got her freakish powers..."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Why did you do it?"

"You're welcome," Zoro snarled, pissed off at the blonde's attitude. No matter how unusual, it had been a nice gesture, for crying out loud! Why did the damn cook have to turn everything into a personal attack? Couldn't he just say 'thank you'?

"I was getting there, if you'd just _wait_ and not jump at me," Sanji sneered back.

Zoro blinked. Twice. Really? Well, the idiot had an undeniably stupid way of getting to thank him. Not that he was much better when it came to this kind of things, but he wasn't about to admit it. It was easier to get pissed off at the blonde for something he did just as lamely.

"So," Sanji resumed. "I take you did it because you thought I wouldn't keep my promise?"

"It flatters me that you didn't even consider the fact that I could've done it out of the pure kindness of my heart."

"No way," Sanji deadpanned.

Zoro couldn't retort to that. His line of thought when filling the blonde's plate had obviously not been painted with rainbows and butterflies but with inner promises of murder and pain if the cook didn't eat what he 'offered' to him. So he settled for shrugging.

"So what?"

"So nothing. Just wanted to remind you that I stick to my promises, so I'd really appreciate it if you didn't think so little of my word and gave me a little bit of credit. If I'm about to cut my rations on purpose again I'll fucking let you know, so get off my back."

Zoro blinked again, the words felt almost like slap in the face. He hadn't thought of that. He had immediately assumed that the cook was going to do something stupid again. Well, he would probably have done so, but not on purpose, because he had made a promise that he _obviously_ would keep until further notice: it was _Sanji _he was talking about. And Sanji _did_ stick to his promises. Zoro wanted to slap himself for real. What was up with him? He couldn't even think straight anymore when it came to the blonde and his level of protectiveness was starting to get worrying.

"That being said," Sanji added as he stood up. "Thank you. Luffy would have probably ended up eating my ration if you hadn't defended it. So yeah, my satisfied stomach thanks your mossy brain for thinking of it."

Zoro felt a weird hotness creeping up his cheeks as he scoffed and shrugged as nonchalantly as he could.

"Whatever."

"You really should thank Robin for stepping in for your pride, though. I know you're allergic to my very person, but it wouldn't have been _that_ awful if you had just said it was you, you know," Sanji smirked as he walked away, picturing the tense amusing face Zoro had pulled at the fear of being discovered, as if he had done something wrong. Sanji would've probably given him shit about it in public, but that was what they were like, so there had really been no need to be _that_ embarrassed. Even if, admittedly, it had been weird as fuck and completely out-of-character coming from Zoro. _To Sanji_.

Zoro watched as Sanji walked away, utterly confused at his own behaviour. Sanji was right, he was making a big deal out of nothing, but it's not like he could help it, could he?

He was probably acting like an idiot, but he _knew_ what he kept seeing in Sanji's eyes, and that sight was the one that told him that he wasn't overreacting _that_ much, that there was something to actually worry about under the cook's almost perfect mask. And just as it happened with the cook, he couldn't be _slightly_ worried, but _really_ worried until the point it drove him nuts. Just as he couldn't be slightly annoyed but had to be _truly_ pissed off at him, or just as he couldn't play-fight him because he had to go _all out_ with him.

Sanji did that to Zoro. He fueled his emotions to the very extreme without as much as blinking, being it fighting, getting angry, needing to mock him, fall for his taunts, worrying about losing him behind a mask that tried to tell him that everything was alright when it wasn't, gravitating around him like a fucking planet around the sun, losing himself inside his stupidly beautiful blue eyes every time he looked at- wait, wait, _wait_. Not going there. Nope. See? That's what he was talking about. Sanji did weird things to him, driving him nuts being the first on the list. Maybe he had already gone nuts. Yeah, that would explain a few things. Fucking cook and how he managed to get under his skin!

* * *

Sanji sighed as he entered the peacefulness of the galley and sat himself down for a while. What the hell was up with Zoro? He had been acting weird for a while, not in a bad way, but not less surprisingly so. He was acting as if he... as if he what? Actually cared for him? The bastard who hated his guts? The rational side of his brain told him that wasn't possible. The facts and a knot in his gut told him otherwise.

Why was he acting like that? Why was he almost being... nice? Zoro's version of nice, of course. But still, he didn't need this puzzle, not when his mind was already juggling with enough problems as to make him want to pulverize the shitty rock island they were in to ashes and bury himself in it as if to materialize the cruel irony that was his life at the moment.

Zoro apparently caring about him made weird things happen to his stomach, starting with uncertainty and bewilderment, and he really didn't need that right now. But, (not that he'd admit it out loud), as puzzling and new as that was, it also brought him a certain sense of safety. Not that he needed to be protected or taken care of, much less by that bastard, but it helped him create the illusion that their current problems could be beaten away without as much struggle. Even if Nami had still been hurt because he had been useless, even if the pantry was emptier than the day before.

After a while he reached for his notebook and started working on a new meal plan that would hopefully keep the crew from starving. Maybe today they'd fish something and they'd be in less of a tight spot.

* * *

Luck wasn't on their side: they didn't manage get a single damn fish or bird, or whatever that could have filled their stomachs, neither that day nor the two days following that one. At that point they had reached the conclusion that there simply was no living creatures around. Food portions had become much smaller, the crew left with their stomachs feeling only half satisfied after the meals, and Sanji was beginning to climb the walls of his beloved kitchen while restraining the fundamental need to destroy something.

So, that morning, seeing how there was no way to keep the illusion of everything being under control, he finally gathered the whole crew in the galley as he lit a cigarette and officially let them know the extent of the problem they were facing. None of them looked surprised at all; Sanji had already commented it before –though making it seem as if it wasn't a really big deal- and they had all seen their portions diminish after all, even if they hadn't complained about it; they weren't suicidal. Well, some of them were kind of kamikaze sometimes, but either way no one was about to open their mouths to aggravate their cook, not when they all knew he was trying and doing his best. Even Luffy had stopped complaining by now, simply going along with whatever Sanji fed him, only occasionally claiming he was hungry just to keep up with tradition.

However, he could see uncomfortable expressions as the true gravity of the problem was said aloud, namely that they'd be utterly fucked if they didn't hunt something down or reached an island soon.

"I'll have to cut the portions even smaller if we want what's left to last," Sanji resumed, trying not to feel guilty as he watched his crewmates' worried expressions looking back at him and nodding. "I'm _really_ sorry about that," he apologized with a quiet tone as he scratched the back of his hair. And, really, he was. He couldn't be feeling more like shit than he was already.

"Nah, don't worry, we'll manage!" Usopp encouraged him with a confident grin and giving him a thumbs-up. "We trust you."

Sanji grew a sincere smile at that. There went their sharpshooter.

"How much time do we have left before we can set sail?" Nami asked, looking at Franky, who kept a calm stance. He had already discussed that point with Sanji days ago, so the blonde knew what was coming.

"I'll need a few more days, I'm not sure. Maybe four or five, the ship's more wrecked than I expected."

Their navigator's expression turned into a dark frown. Hunger wasn't an enemy they could fight; the one in charge of doing that was Sanji and even _he_ had some limits, it's not like he could materialize food out of nothing. Nami sighed.

"Okay, no problem, we'll deal with it."

"Yeah, it's gonna be alright, Sanji!" Luffy cheered, grinning as if they didn't have an actual problem. As if going hungry wasn't one of Luffy's most dreadful nightmares.

Sanji had to be grateful that their black-hole of a captain was behaving; it was really saving him extra unneeded trouble. And the talk would've gone great, in Sanji's opinion, hadn't Luffy's stomach grumbled a few seconds later, as if on queue, which didn't go unnoticed. As soon as he heard it, Sanji flinched and grimaced. _Shit._ Sanji felt guilt well up in his stomach and he was about to open his mouth to apologize again when a deep voice interrupted him.

"Oi, Luffy! I challenge you! I bet I can catch more fish than you."

Sanji turned his gaze to Zoro, who had been silently leaning against the galley's door up until then. He had a playful challenging smirk on his face.

"Actually, I bet I can catch more fish than all of you guys together."

"What! No way!" Luffy and Usopp screamed at the same time as they mirrored each other's pose, pointing accusingly at Zoro as if he had just insulted their mother.

"You can't win against Captain Usopp, thought you knew by now!"

"If it's meat we're talking about, you're busted, Zoro!" Luffy proclaimed as he stomped out of the kitchen, automatically followed by Usopp. Chopper kept jumping behind them, looking excited to see who'd win the fishing contest as he gullibly listened to Usopp's fishing stories in which he claimed he had once brought the world to a serious crisis when he accidentally caught too many fishes and almost emptied the ocean.

Nami smirked as she prompted Franky to bet on who'd actually win. The cybrog seemed to take it seriously, since betting against Nami was serious shit and _highly_ inadvisable, but he wasn't one for backing down, and he left the galley by her side, rubbing his chin while considering his options as Nami watched him with a cunning devilish expression, knowing the money was hers. Her fist flew back when Brook happily asked her to show him her panties and the skeleton took a moment to recover and duck out of the door.

Robin sent a warm smile in Sanji's direction until he came back from his stupor at the sudden stampede and smiled back at her beauty. Then she left, but not before giving Zoro a smug smile he tried to ignore, burying his gaze in Sanji instead as she passed by his side. He didn't need the woman's know-it-all attitude right now.

Sanji stared back at him, not really knowing what to say, and when he tried to open his mouth to talk Zoro simply smirked his most annoying smile and turned to leave, leaving the cook alone with his thoughts, which right now were _none_.

What had that been?

Sanji felt a small smile crawling up his mouth as he gently shook his head. They were all morons. Starting with Zoro; he decidedly was the king of morons. But he still smiled, even if he knew there was no fish to catch. He took note that he'd have to thank Zoro for getting Luffy and the rest distracted from their current problems; it really was a huge help for Sanji. He briefly wondered if Zoro knew that when he had challenged the rest to that stupid game.

He most definitely did.

Sanji's smile grew wider.

* * *

Zoro growled and wondered _why_.

Luffy was breathing like an asthmatic rhino below him, trying to catch his breath after almost drowning for the third time. Needless to say Zoro wasted no time in punching him for good measure after saving his idiot captain's life _again_. Damn, that's what Sanji was meant to do: Luffy drowns, Sanji saves his ass, that's how it worked. But Sanji was busy in the kitchen and Zoro had brought this upon himself when leading a horde of idiots out to fish in an empty sea.

Of course, they hadn't caught anything. Sanji had brought them small portions of lunch outside for them to eat while they diligently kept at work, because they weren't going to lose to the others, of course.

It was afternoon already and no fish was to be found, though. Not that he expected otherwise, but it would have been nice if the odds had been in their favour just once. They obviously weren't. If they hadn't given up yet, it was because their pride was at stake after Zoro had challenged them.

Nami was looking at him with a raised annoyed eyebrow that promised pain. Apparently, she had bet for him to win the challenge and Nami wasn't one to let her money go to waste. Zoro frowned at her, left his whining captain behind and submerged again, giving a few powerful strokes to get further into the sea, see if he caught a glimpse of something.

He let the salty water caress his tan skin as he dived and forced his eye open, but nothing came to view. When his lungs begged for it, he obliged and broke the surface to get some oxygen into them, a frown creasing his forehead in annoyance.

"Did you find anything?"

Zoro turned to see Nami leaning against the railing and giving him a demanding look. Damn witch, she wouldn't be that interested if she hadn't bet her money on him. Zoro growled.

"What do you think?"

"Then move your ass and find something before I feel like your debts need to be charged with some more interests!"

Zoro sighed. It was useless trying to argue with her, she always had the upper hand.

"You can start raising his debts, then, because Captain Usopp is clearly the victor!"

Both Nami and Zoro glowered towards Usopp, who was wearing a stupid victorious grin as he worked with his fishing artifacts.

"You found something yet?" Nami asked.

"Nope, you just wait."

"Then shut up!"

"I'm gonna have your ass handed to you," Zoro warned before submerging again. He thought he heard Luffy claim he'd beat them all, but he just mentally rolled his eyes.

Really, was it so much to ask for luck to be on his side just this once so that he could see Sanji fucking smile and relax for a little bit? He wasn't asking for _that_ much, come on, just one fish would do!

At some point he seemed to hear Nami's voice yelling something on deck, but he was too deep in the water to understand. He would have just ignored it, but there was something in her tone, it seemed urgent. What now? Zoro internally growled and then swam towards the surface once again, only to hear Nami yelling at him and see all of his nakama shouting incoherent things and running around deck.

"Zoro get your ass back here, dammit! Now!"

"What the hell?!"

"Look at that!"

Zoro followed the direction Nami's finger pointed at and froze.

There was a big weird-as-fuck bird-like thing flapping its wings in the Sunny's direction. Next thing he registered was Luffy stretching his arm to catch it and Usopp reading his slingshot pointing to the bird, Chopper and Franky cheering madly at them.

"My win!" Luffy proclaimed with a madman grin.

"You wish!" Usopp cockily retorted by his side, waiting for the bird to get close enough.

"Zoro, I swear if you don't catch it your debts will come with you to hell!" Nami shrieked at the brink of having a mental breakdown.

"Shit!"

Zoro climbed up the ship cursing his wet pants and getting a hold of his katanas, his gaze falling into the same crazy glint as his crewmates'.

"Out of my way!"

He slapped Luffy's hand away before he shot it but he didn't have the time to stop Usopp, who hit the bird square in the chest, the poor thing falling as it miserably tried to bat its way up and away of the danger.

"Zoro, catch it, damn it!"

Zoro ignored the redhead and threw himself into the sea yet again as he realized the bird was going to fall some meters away from the ship. Just as his body broke into the water he felt two rubbery arms circling his torso and something heavy being pulled after him with a gurgling sound. He _really_ wanted to kill his captain. The bastard had thrown himself after him so that Zoro would be busy saving him and bringing him up the deck: then, when they were both on the ship, Luffy could just stretch and get the bird out of the water before Zoro had time to swim back to it again. It was such an idiotic strategy and yet he wasn't surprised anymore. It was just his captain's luck that Zoro's current order of priorities didn't feature saving Luffy's ass in the number one spot.

Zoro got his head out of the water and gasped with Luffy clinging to him like a monkey while whining and begging for Zoro to save him. Much to Luffy's dismay, Zoro flashed him a demonic grin.

"My bad, captain. Your loss."

And then he muffled Luffy's desperate cries as he started swimming at full speed to their drowning dinner-to-be with Luffy holding onto him for dear life as he cried and choked on water. Poor bastard hadn't thought of the possibility of his idiotic plan backfiring at him.

"Bring me baaaaaaaaack! Dammit, Zoro, you're so mean!"

"You go Zoro! Bring me my money!" Nami cheered from the railing with a raised fist while Franky cried the loss of his money by her side.

"That's not even fair! I hit it first! It's my catch!" Usopp kept yelling with undignified screeches as he accusingly pointed at the retreating lump that was their swordsman dragging a crying captain away with a scary victorious aura around him. He swore he had never seen Zoro swim so fast.

"So, Nami, as a celebration for your win, will you show me your panties?" Brook helpfully contributed. The answer came in the form of a kick that sent him flying to the other side of the deck as he let out his 'yohoho' laugh.

Robin watched the show with interest and a small smile. "Looks like we'll have a nice dinner tonight," she commented, apparently being the only one who remembered the initial reason of that stupid Strawhat-like competition.

There was a victorious roar as Zoro caught the bird and raised it into the air for the others to see, then a loud curse and drowning sounds as Luffy managed to wrap himself even more tightly around him, trying to steal the poor animal from Zoro and effectively sending them both underwater with a splash, earning a palette of yells and curses from Nami, who kept ordering them to stop acting like idiots. Chopper started running around asking for a doctor to come when neither of them resurfaced.

"Well, we'll have a nice dinner _if_ those two idiots manage not to drown themselves with it," Usopp corrected Robin with a weary sigh, giving a blank stare at the bubbling section of water where they had last seen them.

"Oi, bros, that's so _not_ super! I want my dinner back!" Franky's arm shot towards the drowning pair with a metallic sound and the crew let out a collective sigh as they saw a mass of moss with a strangled bird held possessively against his chest, completely trapped by rubber limbs, being pulled out of the water. Such a shame the angle was slightly diverted and they hit the railing head first before landing on deck.

Chopper cried for a doctor for a few more seconds before Robin helpfully reminded him that he was one and then he proceeded to disentangle and revive the idiots they had for a captain and first mate.

* * *

Sanji deadpanned when the usual human earthquake made its way into the galley, but his expression mutated into one of confusion when it wasn't only Luffy who appeared but also an outraged-looking Usopp and a grumbling Zoro. Zoro and Luffy were soaked. The trio seemed to be fighting over something and Sanji tried to see what it was without much luck as they were currently a tangle of limbs.

"What the hell?"

"Sanjiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! Time to cook! Look what I caught!" Luffy sang as he managed to uproot his prize from the other's grasps and showed it up in the air with pride. It looked like a... very soaked weird-as-fuck bird?

"No, you didn't, liar!" Usopp scolded, not wasting time in punching Luffy's head and apparently ignoring the blatant irony that was him calling somebody else a liar. "I hit it first, then you took advantage of it! It's _my_ prey!"

"No, it isn't. I didn't see you having to cope with this idiot drowning you while trying to get the damn bird out of the water!" Zoro intervened, glowering daggers at both his captain and the ship's sniper.

"Wait, what?" Sanji cut in with wide eyes fixed on the reddish bird in Luffy's hands. "You caught something?"

"Now then, I really didn't expect you to be blind asides from stupid," Zoro retorted in a flat tone.

Any other remarks were blown away, though, when Sanji's face lit up in a way that hadn't for days. It was the widest smile Sanji had in his repertoire, the one that brought wrinkles up his eyes and nose, the one that made his blue orbs shine just like the sea when the sun reflected on it, the one that seemed to pour his very soul over his features, the one that screamed 'happy' and reminded of a bright ray of sunshine. Sanji let out a bark of laughter as he snatched the bird from Luffy's hands to examine it, playfully rolling his cigarette from one side of his smile to the other, cheeky grin in place.

And it looked like it had been a good catch, because Sanji's smile turned into an approving one as he nodded and laughed again.

"It's perfect!" he proclaimed. He looked at them with a face-splitting grin, barely containing the snickering. "I'd go as far as to kiss all of your ugly faces but I think I'll restrain myself. Sorry folks."

"And why would I want your kiss? That would be scratchy!" Luffy contributed with a confused tilt of his head that made Sanji laugh as he absently caressed his goatee.

"Come on, out of my kitchen, I've got work to do," Sanji prodded, shooing them away.

Luffy left right away under the promise of a meaty dinner being served if he behaved, immediately followed by Usopp, who was still trying to defend his case by yelling at Luffy how it had been his catch and not his captain's or Zoro's.

"'Out of my kitchen' applies to you as well, Marimo. I don't remember giving you any privileged rights in my realm," Sanji ordered as he playfully planted a foot against Zoro's chest to make him walk away, dead bird still in hand.

"Is it useful?" Zoro asked, not flinching even a bit.

"I think so, let's see what I can get out of this poor thing," Sanji nodded, trying to push him away without success. It didn't help that half his strength was invested in keeping his smile at bay so as not to split his face in two. "Who caught it, really?"

Zoro shrugged. "Usopp hit it in the chest and made it fall, I got into the sea to get it out and Luffy decided it was a great idea to jump with me and drown me in the process of stealing it in order to win the bet. So, uh, yeah, Usopp and me, really. Though long-nose didn't have to put up with Luffy. That gives me extra merit."

"Thank you, then," Sanji laughed and gave him one last push. It was a loud careless laugh that accentuated the wrinkles in his nose and made his eyebrows furrow as his eyes shut close, it was Sanji's trademark laugh in all his glory, and something about it made Zoro have the sudden urge to hug him. An urge he killed with a mental slap and the promise to bang his head against a wall until he effectively managed to kill all of his working brain cells so that they'd stop messing with him. Hug the blonde? Come on, now. The cook would have killed him, that if Zoro didn't manage to kill himself first had that happened. The thought occurred that he had become suicidal. That would satisfactorily explain all of his recent stupid urges.

And yet he was broadly smiling back at the cook as Sanji helpfully closed the door in front of his nose with a swift kick.

In order to entertain himself while he waited for dinner, he went to the lawn deck and took a first row seat to Nami beating Franky up, since the poor man had dared to suggest that the bet was about catching fish and not a bird in an attempt to save his funds. Judging by the punch he received, Nami didn't agree. Then he tried suggesting that they should call it a draw since he had bet for Usopp and he had hit the bird so that Zoro could go catch it. If his mortified face when Nami informed him that the interests in his debts had risen to crazy figures was anything to go by, Nami didn't agree either.

Zoro found himself not being able to wash his plastered smile away.

* * *

Turns out that just a reduced amount of the bird's meat was usable and edible, so even though Sanji managed to sort out a bigger amount of food for dinner, he couldn't save any for the upcoming days.

Zoro knew, just by looking at Sanji, that their mirth hadn't lasted long. They hadn't even finished dinner, but his pensive expression told him he was already jumbling with the next few days' menus, probably struggling to find other ways of making their food supplies last in case they didn't get another lucky catch.

The happy-go-lucky crew didn't seem to notice as everyone was busy barricading their plates against Luffy's assaults, but Zoro sure as hell did. And he knew for a fact that the idiot would start on inventory again once the crew left the galley, probably going to sleep at shit o'clock in the morning if he ever got some sleep at all. Which Zoro wasn't about to let happen.

"Who washes dishes today?" Nami asked among their loud chatter.

"I think it's Marimo's turn," Sanji absently answered as he started washing some pans.

"Yeah, I think so..." Zoro answered, forcing himself to follow the conversation instead of mentally reprimanding Sanji in advance. He didn't miss Nami's surprised look directed at him, probably due to the fact that he had just agreed without groaning or anything of the like. She didn't comment on it, though. Zoro tried to ignore Robin's know-it-all smile beside the redhead. He was receiving a lot of those lately.

When the crew had left the galley with renewed mirth due to their slightly fuller servings, Sanji and Zoro set to work in their silent way of doing so, falling into a comfortable pace. Zoro knew Sanji's mind was far away from there, most likely still set on his mental inventory, and the swordsman decided to do something about it. If the cook was enough of an idiot as not to allow himself a moment of rest, Zoro would have to coerce him to it.

Eventually, they finished washing dishes and Zoro patted his hands dry, moving to where he knew the sake was stored but pausing before getting it to give the cook a questioning look.

"Do I get booze as a reward for today's catch?"

He saw Sanji smirk as he started preparing things for inventory and took his personal notebook out, ready to set himself to work.

"Yes, you do. Only one bottle, though," Sanji conceded, much to Zoro's delight.

He felt a smile tug at his lips and he happily took out the liquor.

"You on watch?" Sanji asked.

"Yes."

"I'll be up there when I finish this, it'll be about the time my turn starts," Sanji informed.

Zoro frowned and readied himself to put his plan into action, trying to sound as casual as possible given the weird situation he was about to put both of them in.

"Well, I was hoping I could share a drink while I'm on watch so as to celebrate my amazing catch," he mechanically commented while shaking the bottle, only in a half joking tone. He hadn't actually sounded too gruff, so he mentally patted his back.

Sanji snorted and Zoro's brow automatically furrowed.

"I bet you weren't hoping to share it with me," the blond retorted matter-of-factly, not even sparing him more than a quick amused glance. Zoro scowled at him but managed to keep his cool.

"_Actually_, I was hoping I wouldn't have to drag your scrawny ass up there, to be honest," Zoro replied, fixing his gaze on Sanji.

He half expected Sanji to immediately ask him what the hell was that about, but the only thing he got was a no-nonsense look that _almost_ successfully masked the surprise threatening to reign in Sanji's face.

Well, awkward situation successfully set. Now Zoro could only hope Sanji wouldn't kick his ass. He wasn't sure if he'd actually drag the blonde up there for real if he said no; it would raise too many questions he wasn't sure he wanted to answer. But he really needed Sanji out of his worried little world for a while, so he hoped the cook wouldn't make much of a fuss out of it.

In the end, Sanji kind of frowned at him with a slightly pissed-off look.

"As if you could drag me up there," was his flat answer. Then his tone turned accusing. "And I'm not fucking scrawny! I believe we already discussed this topic!"

Zoro snickered at that, but kept his spot leaning against the counter as he cautiously watched Sanji get two glasses. When he turned to him, though, he had a serious annoyed expression. Zoro raised an eyebrow and waited for the cook to speak.

"Don't think I don't know what you're doing."

Zoro watched him head to the galley door leaving his duties behind. He blinked at his back and started following him. Of course. Blondie wasn't exactly dumb and Zoro wasn't exactly subtle.

As the moonlight bathed the cook's lithe figure he noticed he had gotten thinner over the last few days. That made something uncomfortable attack Zoro's chest, but he kept quiet about it. And nope, he was definitely _not_ checking his ass while he was at it. No way.

It was probably about then when Zoro considered the fact that he had a _problem_. A major one for that matter.

Zoro kept himself from groaning and decided he'd question his own sanity later, when he didn't have a suddenly distracting blonde near him. He didn't feel like dealing with it sober. He didn't feel like dealing with it at all. He didn't even want to wonder how he had ended up checking Sanji's ass. He specially didn't want to ask himself why he was _still_ staring. What. The. Fuck. He slapped himself and Sanji turned to give him a questioning glare. Zoro shrugged it off and gestured for Sanji to move on only to earn a look that clearly read 'you are an idiot'. Nice job, Zoro, giving the damn cook good material for mocking him.

But seriously, _what the hell_.

Zoro suddenly wondered if this had maybe been a really bad idea. Sharing a drink with the cook alone in the crow's nest? Unless they started a fight and went all out, that was sure to be uncomfortable as fuck: Zoro wasn't exactly a pro at chatting, and Sanji was Sanji and was an asshole to him by default. Zoro tried to shoo away the image of the blonde freely laughing and smiling at him so that it didn't interrupt his line of thought by invalidating it. How had he reached the conclusion that this would distract the cook from his problems? Because, unless Zoro received heavenly inspiration and started a hula hula dance, he really didn't have anything else in mind to distract Sanji with.

But that wasn't the main problem, and he knew it. He should have thought twice. His body and brain had recently associated to ruin his sanity around Sanji and even though he had tried to give it not much thought to none, he wasn't sure it was totally safe to be around the blonde more than necessary. No, scratch that, it _definitely_ wasn't advisable for him get himself more involved than he already was with the cook's issues; that had proved to do stupid things to his brain and made him develop a pretty inconvenient obsession with him, always checking out what he was doing, always trying to glimpse if his mask was shattering or not so that he could do a quick fix. Not only did it annoy him to no end but it also made him do stupid things just as having the urge to hug him just like he had felt that same afternoon.

And the worst part was that Sanji wasn't an idiot and he totally _knew_ the swordsman was on his back, and Zoro's pride was beginning to be at stake. What truly puzzled him was the fact that Sanji hadn't kicked his ass or sent him to hell yet. It almost seemed like he was _letting_ him care a bit, not without bitching and being the asshole he was supposed to be to Zoro, of course, but he still let him be by his side more often than not, even if it was weird for both to have Zoro trying to 'subtly' cheer him up and ease the weight on his shoulders when Sanji was going through a rough time.

Which made Zoro realize that Sanji must be really fucked inside to be allowing all of this coming from him, Zoro, the man he hated. Which meant he probably needed it. Which made Zoro stop questioning the whole situation and do what he was supposed to do as the crew's first mate, that is to take care of his nakama when they needed it, even if Sanji could manage himself.

Zoro finally pried his eye away from Sanji's ass with another slap (this time a mental one so as not to embarrass himself further), his determination restored. So what if he cared for a nakama's well-being? Even if it was Sanji. The same man whose guts he claimed to hate. Well, he wasn't going to fall for his brain's tricks and traps, he was Roronoa Fucking Zoro and he owned his brain, his body and whatever bullshit they were trying to pull. He could and would easily dispatch them and go on with his nap-train-meditate-nap-fight-eat-nap-train-booze-nap routine without the blonde filling his thoughts once he had Sanji's problem solved. He only needed them to get to an inhabited island where they could restock their supplies and everything would get better. Once the problem was solved there would be no more headaches, no more obsessive streaks.

As for now, he needed to get the blonde out of his worrying wearing-down spiral so that he could fucking _chill_ once and for all, at least for a while. Zoro would make sure of that. Last thing they needed right now was their cook getting sick.

Sanji started to nimbly climb up the crow's nest, bottle and glasses in one hand, and Zoro followed.

For all the determination he had just gathered, Zoro sure as hell still had a weird nagging feeling about this whole situation.

* * *

**TBC**

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**A/N: **Hiiiii guys! This one was quick to update too! Yay! This one is a bit longer, hehehe, tell me what you think.

I'll be gone for a few days so it will take a while longer to update the next one but I hope I'll be able to do so as soon as I'm back.

Thank you very much for your reviews! :D


	13. Chapter 13 - Ticking Bomb

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* * *

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**Chapter 13**

**Ticking Bomb**

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* * *

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Sanji plopped on the bench and sighed, purposely ignoring Zoro as the swordsman decided what to do next and apparently settled for sitting by his side, leaving a comfortable distance between them.

Sanji restrained a sigh and busied himself with filling their glasses and handing one to Zoro, keeping the bottle by his side since he didn't trust the swordsman not to down it in one go.

Zoro looked fidgety and uncomfortable and Sanji almost wanted to smirk at that. Bastard had brought this upon himself by inviting him. Feeling merciful enough, he decided to break the silence first to save Zoro the effort to roast his brain cells by thinking of a way to do so.

"So," he started. Zoro visibly flinched and Sanji blinked at him with a deadpan expression that did wonders to make the other man feel embarrassed. When he was sure Zoro wasn't about to have a heart attack, he continued. "Are we going to talk about it or not?"

Okay, this was not where Zoro was expecting this to go. There was nothing laid back about Sanji's tone nor about what he was referring to.

"Uh?" was Zoro's eloquent answer. He tried not to kill himself for doing such an awful job of trying to distract the blonde while doing a great one at making a fool of himself instead. Well, unless his sudden case of stupidity was amusing the blonde and did the trick.

"What do you mean 'uh'?"

"Talk about what," Zoro barked back, trying to calm down the pissed-off feeling he always got when trying to hold a civil conversation with the blonde with the other making it a goal to make things difficult for him.

Sanji raised an unimpressed eyebrow. Zoro knew _exactly_ what he was talking about, they were both aware of that.

"You know, you are already dumb enough, you're not helping your case by playing dumber than you are."

"_You know_, I'm here trying to be _nice_ and fucking let you drink with me and you are being a major asshole," Zoro retorted with a growl. Nah, looks like they definitely couldn't hold a civil conversation when left alone.

"Well, there you go, that's what," Sanji pointed out with a lazy swing of his cigarette as he motioned to light it up.

Zoro growled and closed his eyes with everything he had, cursing himself for falling for something that simple. Yeah, well done, hand it straight to the cook. So much for trying to play dumb. He was still considering making an idiot of himself by acting like the oblivious bastard Sanji usually claimed him to be when the cook erased any real possibility of doing so.

"I'll try and put it blunter so that your mossy brain can get it. What the fuck's going on between us?"

Zoro blinked at him. Sanji was looking ahead, cigarette half way to his mouth, _almost_ looking uninterested. Just that Zoro knew he felt far from that. The bastard would be pushing the matter until he got something out of Zoro, and Zoro had been an idiot not to see something like this coming the moment Sanji had agreed to share a drink with him. It's not like he would've done so hadn't he had a point to make to start with, and Zoro should have known him well enough as to foresee that Sanji would use the opportunity to question things Zoro didn't want him to, which he hadn't, so it was his own fault, really.

"Well?" Sanji insisted, finally tilting his head so that he could look at him straight in the eye.

"'Well', what? I don't know what you're talking about," Zoro grumbled. If he had known this would happen he would've never brought the cook with him, he swore.

"You really like making things difficult, don't you," Sanji growled, quickly going from apparently relaxed to downright pissed off. "Okay, you wanna play? I'm in, bastard. Let's put it simpler, then, see if I manage to get it through the plant roots covering the remnants of what was intended to be a brain inside your thick skull."

Zoro snarled at him and was about to make a comeback to the insult when Sanji cut him, not giving him a chance.

"Why are you acting like you have recently? Being all nice to me, I mean. Your stupid brick-like way of being nice while trying to be subtle and failing miserably, of course, but still nice to none other than_ me_, the guy whose guts you are supposed to hate. Does it ring a bell, now?"

"You are an asshole," Zoro spat, fixing him with a glare and feeling like a cornered prey even though there was plenty of space in the room and in between them. Sanji's pose wasn't even threatening but that didn't keep Zoro from feeling exposed. "So what if I'm fucking trying to be nice to a nakama when I think they may be going through rough times? Is it really _that_ bad that you have to be an asshole about it?!"

"Zoro. _Zoro_," Sanji severely cut in the middle of his rant, almost as if he was scolding a kid. His hand came up to firmly push Zoro back to his sit, which he had suddenly raised from, fixing him with a 'shut the fuck up' glare. "Can you fucking calm down for a moment? I'm not trying to attack you, for fuck's sake!"

"Oh, could've fooled me!" Zoro huffed, obeying Sanji's guiding hand and sitting back on the bench nonetheless. He still crossed his arms against his chest so that the blonde knew he was angry.

"Shut up," Sanji ordered with a snarl. "It's because you're being an evasive bastard about it that I have to treat you like one."

Zoro was about to retort but Sanji interrupted him again with a warning stare.

"I'm not saying it's bad," he said, his voice slightly strained when he found himself admitting it out loud, which embarrassed both of them. Then he returned to his original pose, fixing his eyes to the other side of the room in an attempt to disipate the awkwardness. "It's just that I don't get it."

A long silence filled the room and Sanji ended up looking back at Zoro, check if he had turned into a statue or something. Zoro was staring at him with a weird expression Sanji couldn't read, and it made something coil in his stomach.

"Oi, moss head, this has to be one of the most uncomfortable situations I've ever been in, so can you just snap out of it and answer already?"

Zoro felt caught by Sanji's demand and he had to turn his face to the side so as not to give his unease away. Did they really have to do this? Zoro could happily live without that conversation taking place in his life.

"What does it matter? Can't you just drop it?" he sighed.

"No."

"Then why does it matter?" Zoro insisted, feeling more annoyed by the moment.

"You know why."

"Oh, who's being an evasive bastard now, shitty cook?"

"That's why it fucking matters!" Sanji barked, pointing at Zoro's chest and effectively bringing his bewildered gaze back to the blonde. "This is what we are supposed to be like, it's not like you to just pop out of nowhere and offer help or just... or just _be_ there, whatever you are doing! Not with me!"

"So?" Zoro grunted, already growing tired of that conversation. They really couldn't hold one for saving their lives.

"So why."

"Well, look, I don't know, okay?!" Zoro burst, even gesturing with his hands, which he definitely didn't do often unless he was _really_ stressed. "Happy?"

Sanji blinked at him, wide eyes and a puzzled look in them.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"You're fucking pushing it, cook," Zoro warned with a snarl.

"Well, I don't get you!" Sanji protested, invading more of his personal space than Zoro would have liked. He could tell the cook was upset. Why had he thought it would be a good idea to invite him, again?

"I don't get it either!" Zoro yelled, his scowl growing worse. The blonde knew how to get under his skin, that bastard. "I also don't get why the fuck I'd want to be nice to a major asshole like yourself, to be honest! Maybe I've just gone nuts! Yeah, that would make sense, because other than that I don't get why I've even made the effort!"

Feeling too riled up to stay in that room without breaking anything and giving no fucks about the fact that it was his turn to keep watch, he stood up and stomped to the exit before he did something he'd regret.

_Fucking cook._

Said fucking cook sent a roundhouse kick towards his head which Zoro barely had time to dodge. He cursed himself yet again when he realized he had moved the exact way Sanji wanted him to and could only hold his breath and brace for impact when Sanji's foot collided with his chest and sat him back down with painful force.

"Fucking _chill_!" Sanji yelled, planting the sole of his dress shoe against his abdomen to keep him in place. "You're acting like a fucking drama queen and, let me tell you, it doesn't suit you, so sit the fuck down and get a hold of yourself!" Zoro watched as Sanji huffed and calmed himself down before resuming. "Is it really _that _weird that I'm asking you 'why' when you've never given a fuck about me before? It's just fucking _asking_, it's not like I'm gonna try to kill you or something, so fucking calm down already!"

Zoro took in Sanji' words in and tried to relax, tried to forget about the throbbing pain in his chest where he had been kicked, and tried to calm his nerves down. Sanji was right, he was too much on edge. Had he just... freaked out? Well, that definitely wasn't like him.

"I don't know what you want me to answer," he let out, trying to sound steady and composed and actually succeeding. Kind of. "I just don't know. Guess I was just trying to help, but if it bothers you, I'll just stop and do my thing."

A little annoying voice inside him barked a sarcastic laugh at that last statement, as if telling him that stopping worrying and doing his thing was just not going to happen. Like, no way.

He ignored it.

Sanji looked at him with searching eyes and ended up sighing and lowering his leg, allowing the swordsman some space and the opportunity to breathe.

"It doesn't bother me."

Zoro followed Sanji with his gaze, actually surprised, not to say puzzled. Not only didn't he mind but he also just went and said it. Out loud. In front of him. _To_ him. His eye widened even more at Sanji's next line as the cook sat back down, his face covered by a cascade of blonde hair that kept Zoro from seeing his expression.

"You've actually helped a lot. I was planning on thanking you before you freaked out. It doesn't make it any less weirder but I guess it was stupid to expect a more elaborated answer from a moss-head like you. Trust Marimo to do things without using his brain. Thank you anyways, I guess."

When he turned to face Zoro, he found a _very_ dumbfounded marimo looking back at him and Sanji almost snorted at the sight.

"What?"

Zoro mentally slapped himself and put his brain to work, as opposed to letting himself freeze at the sight of Sanji actually thanking his efforts just like that.

"Does that mean you'll stop giving me shit about this?"

"Key words: _about this_," Sanji smirked, taking a drag. Zoro couldn't help but smirk back.

Okay, so their relationship wasn't going to become awkward and uncomfortable, looks like they'd stay true to their antics and usual line of bickering and teasing. Zoro found himself relieved to know that. For one moment he had feared Sanji would just proceed to ignore him and put some distance in between them in order to make the awkwardness fade away. It would've actually sucked if Zoro had been cut off his daily fights and arguments with Sanji; those were fun and exciting, and already part of his routine: having them disappear would make his life damn boring. Not that he'd admit it to the blonde. Maybe that's why he had just freaked out when Sanji had tried to approach the subject? Because he was afraid he'd lose all of this and have it replaced for an awkward ignoring-each-other to keep their pride intact? Ugh, that would have _really_ sucked.

"So can we drink and relax already?"

Sanji shrugged and nodded, apparently amused by his reaction and giving up on his questioning, much to Zoro's relief. He knew he wouldn't get anything else out of the stubborn proud swordsman, so he'd rather let it slide.

Zoro let out a deep sigh he didn't know he had been holding.

"Thank fuck, this was getting fucking _awkward_."

Sanji let out a laugh and Zoro looked at him with an amused gleam in his eyes. That kind of laugh had the power to brighten moods, even if Zoro wasn't one to reckon it out loud. It was good to see the blonde relaxed enough to laugh like that.

"Tell me about it. Damn, I've never felt so uncomfortable in my life!"

"Not even when we walked to Usopp jacking off in the-?"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh! For fuck's sake Zoro-Agh! _Agh_! Fuck, what _the hell_?! Why did you have to go and bring it up now! _Oh my God_, I swear I'm about to just throw myself into the ocean and willingly drown, fucking get it out of my head, bastard!" Sanji started to screech and whimper, looking horrified as hell.

Zoro burst out laughing soundly, having trouble containing the tears and buckling over himself in an attempt to catch his breath back. That reaction had been priceless. He felt the kick coming his way and he barely dodged in between his fit of laughter as Sanji seethed at him and cursed out loud. Sanji finally managed to land a kick on Zoro's abdomen, effectively pushing the air out of his lungs and leaving him gasping for oxygen with a mixture of pain and amusement in his face.

"Fucking marimo bastard, I should just kill you right here for this," Sanji gabbled with a snarl. Then he let himself fall back on the bench and drowned his glass in one go, wishing the alcohol would just erase the mental image haunting his sanity, courtesy of the man currently curling a few feet away from him. The bastard.

"Oi, leave me some!" Zoro protested when he saw Sanji drowning a second glass. He actually managed to stand up and get to Sanji's side, snatching the bottle from his hand just when Sanji finished filling his third glass. Zoro drank straight from the bottle, gulping down as much as he could so as to even the situation.

"Oi!" Sanji yelped, trying to get it back.

"Don't 'oi' me," Zoro growled as he took another sip. A large one.

"You're a fucking manerless Neardenthal drinking straight from the bottle, that's disgusting, I have to drink from that too!"

"Deal with it, princess."

"One of these days I'm fucking gonna kill you for real, bastard!"

"It'd be funny to see you try."

"Remind me how funny it is when I've got my foot shoved up your ass, moss ball."

Zoro barked a laugh and swung the bottle away from Sanji's grasp yet again. Bastard was fast but not enough when Zoro made it a goal to annoy him.

"Ask nicely."

Sanji glowered daggers at him, his scowl competing with Zoro's trademark one.

"Fuck. You."

"Haven't heard you beg for it yet," Zoro sing-songed.

"I'm not gonna fucking beg for it. Give it back before I snatch it out of the cold fingers of your mossy corpse."

"Ask. Nice."

Sanji snarled at him until he suddenly stood up and started walking to the other side of the room.

"What are you doing?"

Sanji didn't answer as he started rummaging in a pile of weights and discarded stuff. At some point he made a satisfied click with his tongue and Zoro watched as he lifted a half full bottle of alcohol out of a pile of boxes in which Zoro kept some training tools. Sanji had a victorious conceited grin plastered in his face.

"Fuck," Zoro cursed, seeing as all his fun was washed away in a second.

"What? Thought I didn't know you had one up here as an emergency supply for when I don't let you have your booze? You actually surprised me, though. I thought you had three of them, guess you have already finished the other two, you shitty drunkard," Sanji smirked, basking in his small victory as he made his way back to the bench where Zoro sat with an annoyed grimace.

Damn the blonde. Yes, he had just finished the other two last night and was half way down the third, which was now freely swinging in Sanji's hand. Damn observant bastard. Couldn't he keep anything from him anymore or what?

"I'm not a drunkard," he grunted as he took a large sip from his bottle, feeling annoyed as fuck. If he couldn't pester the blonde it was no fun at all. Just when he had started thinking he'd have an entertaining piss-the-blonde-off watch for once.

"Now, how does _defeat_ feel, marimo?" Sanji asked as he made a show of sitting down like a sir and dragging 'defeat' to eternity with the most annoying almighty grin Zoro had been flashed with in a while.

"This is not defeat," Zoro retorted with a scowl. "The way I see it I've managed to keep my liquor without a fight, you coward."

"The way _I_ see it, you've got half your liquor there, while I've drunk the other half of _yours_ and managed to get this half full bottle for myself while diminishing your supplies to zero. That makes double the alcohol you've 'managed to keep' there. Oh, and I didn't have to beg. Then again, how does _defeat_ feel, moss head?"

"Fuck you. Throw yourself face first off the crow's nest or something," Zoro barked with a frown and the urge to punch the shitty cook in the face, see if he could erase that fucking smirk.

"You say the sweetest things."

Zoro kindly showed him his middle finger without as much as giving him a glance, purposely glaring at the other side of the room while sipping at his alcohol. He heard Sanji laugh in a mocking victorious tone. Asshole.

"Remind me why I invited you again."

"Because I'm fucking awesome and you craved my inestimable company, of course."

"Oh, yeah, you're right. I almost forgot I adore you."

"You totally do."

"Obviously."

"Next step is begging me to be your friend. You know, I might consider it if you ask real nice."

"I know I may be repeating myself but, hey, _fuck you_."

"You are repeating yourself indeed, looks like you've already depleted all your vocabulary reserves. Need me to bring you a dictionary so that you can learn some new words today? We could definitely work on your originality too."

"If it's originality you want, I can introduce my fist to your nose, see if it gets the message better than your curly brain. Though I don't think your reputation would appreciate another nosebleed, ero-cook."

"Watch your mouth, you shitty piece of lawn. You're in no condition to start a verbal fight when you've got no brain to help your case."

"You know, I changed my mind, you could just leave, go do your thing while I do mine, what about that?"

"What, and miss all the fun? No way."

"I swear you're the most annoying bastard I've ever had the disgrace to meet, you damn shit-cook."

"Glad to know the feeling is mutual, shitty marimo."

"At least we're agreeing on something, I'll report it to our captain tomorrow morning first thing, I bet he'll be proud of us," Zoro grunted, the slightest hint of amusement in his annoyed tone.

"Oh my, you're right! Brace yourself, looks like we're not only witnessing but also starring in a historical moment! Books will be written about this, I'm telling you. Don't expect it to be repeated anytime soon, though, once every thousand years sounds like enough. Finding something we both agree on is fucking exhausting."

Zoro barked out a laugh and Sanji followed suit. Leave it to them to have the most idiotic conversations with a straight face while looking cool as fuck. Or so they thought. The actually looked like helpless idiots.

Zoro risked a glance at Sanji and couldn't help but smile when he saw his cheerful expression. About time he saw him like this, the bastard had been tormenting himself enough recently.

They ended up falling into one of their comfortable silences, the ones that brought them peace of mind and time to think, the ones they usually shared while washing dishes together, which they both enjoyed more than they admitted. The fact that none of them felt the need to fill the silence with words spoke volumes. These kind of peaceful moments felt as natural to them as fighting. Both extremes were easy to fall in for them, both extremes felt equally right.

The moonlight casted shadows inside the crow's nest, playing with silhouettes and palettes of greys and blacks, and blues and whites.

When he turned to Sanji again, though, all vibes of playfulness were gone and replaced by a serious and lost expression. How long had they been in silence? Maybe he shouldn't have let Sanji alone with his thoughts for that long. Suddenly feeling the need to get him out of there because he wasn't sure how the blonde felt anymore, he couldn't help but ask.

"Oi, cook. What are you thinking?"

Sanji looked at him but then let his gaze get lost again. Zoro felt uncomfortable yet again. Maybe he shouldn't have asked, it was not like them to share their thoughts and Sanji would probably just ignore him or tell him to go fuck himself.

"It's just... This shitty rock, it's driving me crazy."

Zoro watched as Sanji rubbed his tired features with both hands, letting out a long sigh. Okay, Zoro didn't expect him to _actually_ answer. Now he didn't know what to say and they were back to unfamiliar territory for both. Why couldn't he keep his mouth shut? What's worse was that he had intended to distract him and it had been going just fine until that moment. He didn't want Sanji to talk about all that shit because Zoro knew how much it affected him. But his mouth had apparently decided to proclaim independence as it ran free and asked:

"What was it like?"

Zoro wanted to slap himself. _Why_ was he doing this? He _could_ just ignore it and Sanji would never find it weird, he'd probably forget Zoro had ever asked.

"What?"

"Your rock. This place is just like that rock, isn't it?"

Now Zoro seriously considered committing seppuku. What the fuck was he doing? It's not as if he didn't know already that he _didn't want_ to go there. It was one of Sanji's most private and hurtful memories, what right did he have to ask? He respected the blonde enough as not to stick his nose in his business. And yet he was asking. Maybe it was that Sanji looked like he needed to get it out, maybe it was because Sanji had just shown a fundamental level of trust towards him by mentioning it instead of closing himself in. Maybe it was because it _felt_ like the right thing to do even if Zoro didn't really think it was. Maybe it was because he realized Sanji simply needed someone who listened.

Sanji gave him a confused look, as if he wasn't expecting Zoro to have any interest in what he was saying. Zoro kept suprising him lately. He never thought he'd be willing to listen. He didn't even know why he had just opened to him sending all of his inner barriers to hell. And he specially didn't know why he was about to just blurt things out instead of putting up a wall and shrugging everything off, or just inform the marimo it was none of his business just as he should have done from the beginning.

"Fun fact is that I had a nightmare about it even before setting foot on land. Guess I already knew. It shouldn't surprise me, karma can be a bitch sometimes."

"So it was like this one."

"Kind of. But definitely worse. That fucking rock was so high we couldn't even make it to the sea and fish something, since we couldn't climb back up."

"How did you manage?" Zoro found himself asking. He didn't know much about Sanji's past, just the basics: he starved on a god-forsaken rock and a dangerous moody chef saved his life. Period. Not that Sanji would talk much about it. Even now, when he was being open about it, he was curt and brief.

Sanji let out a weak smile and Zoro's chest clenched a little, knowing that the blonde was remembering something painful.

"When I woke up on that rock I freaked out. There was absolutely nothing there, I thought I was alone, I didn't know what to do. Then the old geezer came to me with a small shitty bag and tossed it to me. That was meant to be my food ration until someone rescued us. I got angry and yelled at him because he had a much much bigger bag than me. I accused him of being damn egotistical, I really wanted to hurt him; it seemed so unfair. He went to one side of that rock and I stayed on the other, we were supposed to notify each other if we saw a ship coming our way."

Zoro felt himself trapped in Sanji's words, listening as if it was the most important thing he had ever heard. Maybe because it was something that had brought Sanji to be who he was nowadays. It had most definitely defined him.

"We were stuck there for 85 days until a ship came by and rescued us."

"What?!"

Zoro almost stood up, shock filling his chest as his ears tried to process the words spoken. How had they survived? He froze there, looking at him as if he had grown a second head. Leave it to Sanji to do something impossible like that.

Zoro suddenly felt... proud. Sanji was a fucking _victor_. Life had decided to sink him, erase him from Earth and fly away in the most cruel way. And he had fucking retaliated by grabbing it and not letting it go; that's the stubborn bastard he was. Sanji had fought and won. Even when it shouldn't have been possible.

"The worst part was the wait. Feeling your stomach eating itself, feeling life drain away while the only thing you can do is sit and wait. Going to sleep thinking it was the last time you saw the sky. Actually wishing it was over already. Feeling defeated and knowing you'll die alone and nobody will know you ever existed," Sanji continued, a bitter expression reigning in his face. His voice sounded strained and yet controled, the ghost of his memories toying with him.

"But you weren't defeated, cook, you actually won," Zoro retorted, his tone more insisting that he would have liked.

Sanji smiled. It was bitter.

"At some point I just went nuts. My food supplies were long gone and I felt like I was gonna die from starvation the next second. So I came up with a plan," Sanji took a drag and Zoro felt the need to ready himself for something he was sure he wouldn't like to hear. "The old geezer had much more food than I did. So I decided to kill him and steal what he had left, because he was an egotistical bastard without a heart and I was convinced it was all his fault, and I wanted to survive no matter what."

Sanji made a pause and suddenly looked lost. Zoro wanted to snap him out of it, engage him into one of their fights and keep his mind from travelling to undesired places, but he had started this situation and now he didn't know how to stop it.

"So, I took a knife, about this big," Sanji gestured for him to see, but didn't look at him, his eyes wandering somewhere else. He looked as if he was seeing the scene he was describing happening in front of him. He probably was. "I walked to his side of the rock. Threatened to kill him, said the worst things to him. When I opened his sack, it only contained jewels and money, and treasures."

Zoro blinked at him. What?

Sanji looked amused. The tortured kind of amused, and Zoro didn't like it one bit.

"The shitty old man had eaten his own leg to survive. That's why he has a peg leg, you saw that one, didn't you?" Sanji resumed, still not looking at him.

Zoro felt a knot in his stomach and dread started filling his insides. _What?_

"He had given me all the food there was. His sack was only filled with treasure. He was a feared pirate, you know? His weapons were his legs, just like mine. I learned to fight like this because he taught me. He was a formidable fighter. And he lost his leg. For me."

Zoro wanted to say something, but nothing came to mind. He could only watch as guilt took over Sanji's features and he didn't know what to do to wash it away. It pissed him off.

"When I asked him why, he told me we both shared the same dream."

"All Blue," Zoro found himself breathing out. Sanji nodded.

"He wanted me to find it since he couldn't anymore. I always felt like I had stolen his dream."

Zoro opened his mouth, this time ready to bark out something so that Sanji would shut up, because he knew where this was getting and it infuriated him to no end, but Sanji was faster.

"To think I wanted to kill him and steal his food... When he had abandoned everything else for me without having the need to..." Sanji barked a laugh, and it was so breathtakingly _sad_ that Zoro felt a shiver run down his spine as anger took over him. "Guess that's the kind of person I am."

That did it.

"What the fuck kind of person, Sanji?!" Zoro snapped with a snarl, his voice louder than he expected. He was fucking furious now. He was fucking trembling in rage, barely containing a punch. "The kind of person who willingly stepped in front of me when you couldn't even stand, giving away your life to protect my goddamn dream?! Is this the kind of person that you are talking about?!"

"Zoro, shut the fuck up."

"No, damn it, _you_ shut the fuck up and answer my fucking question! Is it the kind of selfless bastard who gives his life away for his nakama's dreams that you're talking about?!"

He didn't see it coming when Sanji's hand darted and grabbed his yukata, yanking it until they were face to face and Sanji's eye bore in Zoro's with an intensity that took him back.

"I. Said. Shut the fuck up," he snarled. Zoro could feel the blonde's rage centimeters away from his face.

"And why do I have to shut up while you get to say all this bullshit?!" Zoro retorted, losing his patience. He was starting to get tired of Sanji belittling himself like it was no big deal.

"Because I'm gonna kill you if you mention Thriller Bark again, _I swear_, Zoro!"

Zoro was suddenly lost and could only blink at the man in front of him, all fight leaving him as he came to the point where he didn't understand the situation anymore. What the fuck was with Thriller Bark?

"The hell of a problem do you have with-?"

"I said shut up!" Sanji pushed him and Zoro almost fell from the bench, anger taking over him again.

Arguing with the cook could be labyrinthine some times. He went from one subject to another, from one mood to another, from restraining to going all out, all in the blink of an eye.

"I wouldn't want Luffy waking up to a crew member missing. He'd try to kill me for murdering you and I don't fucking feel like it, so, really, just shut up!"

Sanji lit another cigarette, visibly pissed off.

"Well, if you didn't go saying stupid shit like that, I wouldn't have to bring certain things up," Zoro protested, frowning. "Damn, you're fucking complicated, curly-brow!"

"Nice to meet you, now fuck off."

"No way, it's _my_ watch, _you_ fuck off!" Zoro growled. What the hell? It was difficult to keep up with Sanji being like this. How he went from vulnerable and _close_ Sanji to a fury whirlwind full of kill intent, he didn't understand. Now he was back to being his ordinary asshole self, what came next? He wouldn't be surprised if Sanji just started laughing out of the blue, it wouldn't make it any weirder.

"I don't wanna leave."

"Why the fuck not! You were about to kill me just a moment ago, now you wanna spend time with me? Sort your priorities, shit-cook!"

"I don't wanna spend time with you, I wanna spend time with my alcohol," Sanji retorted with a no-shit look that begged to be punched out of his face.

"Then go spend it somewhere else."

"Nope."

"Ever thought of asking Chopper to check your brain, see what the fuck is wrong with it? I swear it's just as coiled as your fucking eyebrows!"

"At least he'd have one to check, moss head! Fucking grow a brain in between those plant roots you have sprouting in your skull before talking like that. One single brain cell would already make a difference."

"Fucking give me a break, I'm growing a headache! I don't even know why I'm putting up with you," Zoro groaned, taking a large sip of alcohol in hopes that it would help, because he couldn't handle Sanji for saving his life when he got like this, he swore.

"You put up with me because I'm the one who waters you and feeds you your healthy soil on a daily basis, you're very welcome. And I'm glad to know you're capable of growing something aside from moss in your head. Congrats."

Sanji sat back down, scowl in place, and filled his glass yet again.

"Why do you have to be such an asshole to me?" Zoro snapped, looking at him as if he intended to cut his head off his shoulders. Which sounded pretty tempting right now.

"Because that's what we are supposed to be like, Marimo," Sanji answered, his tone suddenly calm and his expression neutral once again.

Zoro sat there, blinking again and unable to come with a retort to that. The statement held so much truth that it hit him like a punch, or like one of Sanji's kicks. He was right. That's what they were supposed to do. Bickering about stupid things, starting fights, hating each other's guts and annoying the hell out of the other for the sake of it, wasn't it? Zoro wasn't supposed to be caring for Sanji as much as he was, and Sanji wasn't supposed to tell him such personal things like he would tell a friend. They weren't friends, they were rivals and nakama, but still rivals. However, Zoro couldn't help it, he just cared. He couldn't help but feel honored that Sanji had decided to share such personal memories with him. But it still wasn't supposed to be like this, was it? Was it?

"Come on, moss head, stop thinking that hard, it doesn't suit you. Just shut up and drink."

Zoro didn't need to be told twice. This was starting to be a mindfuck. He didn't need a thousand voices in his head telling him what he was supposed to do and what not. But there they were. God, this shit was really wearing him out. Hadn't he always trusted his gut? Why was it so difficult to do right now?

"Do you regret telling me?" he asked without registering it. He cautiously looked at Sanji, fishing for any trace of an expression that gave him away. But he looked calm again.

"Nah. Not at all. I think I really needed it. It's because it was you that I let it out."

The answer seemed to surprise them both as they looked at each other with wide eyes and embarrassment slightly tinting their cheeks. Sanji let out a nervous smirk, cursing his tongue for freely acting on his own will that night. He was spilling more things that he'd feel comfortable to, even if it was Zoro, whose hands he'd put his life in.

As he had already said, they weren't supposed to be like this. Maybe it was the alcohol.

"You'll have to wait until satellites align for it to happen again, though."

Zoro smirked and took another sip, followed by Sanji's larger gulp.

"Yeah, I think we should go back to normal now, we've had enough uncomfortable situations for one night."

"Enough for a lifetime, I'd say," Sanji chuckled darkly. "Let's stop talking about shit and just drink, shall we? Being profound doesn't suit us."

"Hell, no!"

They both laughed. Then they finally shut up and got back to their usual shared silence. Just that now it was filled with slight tension.

Zoro had the bad feeling that they were leaving too many arguments unfinished; that they were leaving too many of them without a proper physical fight; that they were shutting up too much for the sake of their pride in an attempt to preserve their normality for it to be healthy. What sure wasn't like them was restraining as much as they were lately, all because they felt awkward.

And he knew it could only end one way. It was a ticking bomb. At some point one of them would snap for real and stop backing away and shrugging everything off and, when that time came, things would get ugly. Because self-restraint wasn't their strongest point and they were doing too much of that lately. If the situation got awkward they would just run away, move it to safe known territory before it got out of their hands, leaving whatever they were arguing about unfinished. That could not end well, that just left loose ends they'd have to deal with later on, and the more time went by, the worse it'd get. Zoro knew it and he had a feeling that Sanji knew it too; he wasn't an idiot.

But, as for now, playing safe was more comfortable and convenient. Burst, restrain before it really ignites; snap, restrain themselves before it gets out of hand. That's the rhythm they had recently fallen into and Zoro was just now realizing how dangerous that was. Specially for people like them, who usually faced problems first hand and without hesitation. Why it was different this time, he couldn't tell. Maybe because there was something fundamental in what they were both avoiding. Something neither of them wanted to face. It was easier to tiptoe around it and mend small holes than straightly lift the cloth covering the main problem. That would show them collateral issues they didn't need.

Wait, when had they become such fucking cowards?!

His head snapped towards Sanji but found that the cook had already fallen asleep. For how long had he been thinking and giving his brain shit? Apparently enough for the blonde to finish his alcohol and fall asleep, breathing deep, his chest rising and falling in a steady lazy rhythm, his expression peaceful.

Zoro groaned and cursed himself. Why had he chosen to start caring about the blonde? What had he been thinking? He should have known it would just slip out of his control. Everything did when it came to Sanji. He shouldn't have expected it to be any different. A little worry had become an obsesion and apparently a spiral of something else he didn't want to know about. It was getting stupid. Things had never been that difficult, for fuck's sake! Who had asked him to meddle into the cook's issues? He could have just ignored it as long as his attitude didn't harm the crew, it was none of his business what the cook did or felt like after all, was it? But here he was, frying his remaining brain cells over a thousand things that wouldn't make sense until he confronted them, and he was nowhere near ready to do it. He had signed himself up for carrying Sanji's burden with him and now he had to deal with it and all of its consequences.

_Good job, Zoro. You're a smart boy. Why couldn't you just stick your nose into your own problems and let the cook be?_

Well, he had always been a pro at putting himself into unneeded trouble; he shouldn't really be surprised.

He really needed to stop thinking. It was making things way more difficult than needed.

Zoro sighed. What a great job he had done. He had tried to distract the cook from the things troubling him by inviting him to drink, but had ended up having Sanji pouring his worries and hurtful memories out, everything but forgetting. Someone give him a prize or something. God, he wished he could just shut his brain down, it would help.

Damn the blonde.

* * *

Sanji woke up with a strangled cry, abruptly sitting up. A blanket he didn't remember covering himself with fell to the floor, not that he noticed, he had a hard time breathing. Damn, he was suffocating, shallow pants fighting to get his breath back. Sweat covered his trembling body and tears welled in his eyes, never really being shed though. Fuck. Fuck. _Fuck_!

"Cook!"

He heard the voice but didn't register it until familiar green hair appeared in front of him. Zoro was looking at him with a really worried expression, his powerful hands trying to get a hold of Sanji's shoulders to steady him, his eye searching Sanji's blue ones to check if he was okay.

"Oi! Cook?"

Oh, shit. Why? Really, he was starting to be convinced that the world hated him. Why did Zoro have to see him like this? This _weak _and _pathetic_.

He tried to bat his hands away as he settled his breathing down, still too hysteric to coordinate his movements but really trying to calm down, forcing himself to inhale through the nose and exhale through his mouth, choking at first, then having a bit more luck.

"Cook..."

"Leave me alone, go away," Sanji managed, slapping one hand away, this time successfully.

"Sanji, are you-"

"I'm fine!" Sanji exclaimed, avoiding his gaze and putting space in between them. "I'm fine, now leave me alone."

"But-"

"No 'buts', damn it!"

Sanji managed to stand and walked to the exit, slightly stumbling and feeling damn weak. He didn't even want to know what impression he was giving to Zoro right now. Shit, he had never felt so ashamed in his life. The swordsman wasn't supposed to see him like this, Sanji wasn't supposed to erase his barriers down to the point he let himself be seen like this in front of Zoro!

"Sanji, stop it!" Zoro insisted, following behind and trying to get a hold of Sanji yet again, but the blonde dodged just fine, having regained some composure.

"Let me be, Zoro, I mean it," Sanji snarled, his voice trembling. He looked like a wounded animal about to be attacked again.

Zoro was feeling worried as fuck, his chest tightening at the sight in front of him. Sanji wasn't supposed to look like this.

Sanji was having trouble putting his mask back on, which wasn't like him at all. It just gave the swordsman an idea of how shattered he must have felt right now. Maybe it was because he was still sleepy and couldn't control his expressions and walls as well as he usually did, but it was damn painful to see him try that hard, his features switching from hurt and devastated to serene and calm with a myriad of shades in between. To his credit, he hadn't shed one single tear and he had reduced his trembling to minimum.

"Oi, cook, come on, talk to me, what's wrong?"

"Don't follow me, Zoro, I'll hurt you if you do. Just... just leave me alone, I'm serious," Sanji's voice sounded so strained it hurt to hear.

Zoro growled. Leaving him alone in that state was the _last_ thing he wanted to do.

He wasn't seeing Sanji's defeated look, that would have made Zoro snap for real, but it was a fearful desperate one, one that held major pain and hurt, one Zoro had never seen Sanji wearing, and it just didn't set right in him. And that cry... Dammit that had been awful, he didn't think he'd be able to forget that sound for a while. It would most likely take the leading role in some of his nightmares.

"Come on, Sanji, sit back down and calm down, it's alright, whatever you were dreaming of was just a nightmare, we're safe in the Sunny," he felt the need to try and reassure him, but he really wasn't good at this. His voice was meant to be calm and soothing, not strained and commanding.

Sanji grimaced and sent him a fierce warning glare. He didn't want the swordsman to see him like this but the bastard kept insisting. He needed out, breathe fresh air, _then_ it would be alright, but not there with Zoro where he got a first row seat to Sanji's unusual weakness display.

"I'm not gonna fucking repeat it again, leave me alone and mind your own business."

Well, that had sounded more like him. He would have patted his own back if he wasn't too busy trying to keep everything inside him at bay.

When Zoro made no further move but helplessly staring at him, Sanji left. Sure enough, the swordsman didn't follow.

When he got on the lawn deck, he took a deep breath and choked on a dry sob. Still, no tears spilled.

"Agh, fuck!" he yelled as he kicked the floor for good measure, trying to relieve some stress. His hands went to his hair, ruffling and pulling it and then fishing a cigarette because he needed one like the air he was breathing.

He had been back at that rock.

The damn rock that had been his personal hell for three months. Just that he wasn't with Zeff. Zoro was there with him instead. The bastard acted like his usual asshole-self, getting on his nerves and annoying the hell out of him for no apparent reason. At some point he threw a small sack at Sanji's lap and walked away with a much bigger one. Sanji yelled something at him, feeling angry. Suddenly, hunger took him, all his supplies seemed to shrink and his hands were so thin that he could see the bones in them.

Realization came, without having to check, that Zoro's sack wasn't full of food but something else. He didn't know what it was. He stood up to run to Zoro, who was sitting a few feet away from him, cross-legged and looking like a corpse, so thin that he couldn't recognise him anymore. His legs failed him and Sanji fell to the ground, and as much as he tried to get to Zoro, he couldn't move. Zoro just sat there, looking at him with a kind expression, his eyes losing their spark, and Sanji knew life was leaving him. Sanji wanted to run and give him his last piece of bread but he still couldn't move. And Zoro was just there. If he just walked four or five steps he'd reach him, but he couldn't. He yelled until his voice was hoarse but he couldn't hear a sound coming from his throat. At some point Zoro smiled at him. He needed to save him, he had the means, even if he was starving himself, and God, could he _feel_ he was starving. But he couldn't move. He just couldn't move as much as he tried. It was as he could only watch as death took Zoro away.

Zoro's smile grew wider and Sanji saw his last breath leave his body. Then Zoro slumped, Wado tight in his arms as he simply stopped living.

Then he had woken up with a cry.

Shit, it had been _awful_. Desperation had been so raw that he still had trouble breathing. And Zoro had seen him crumble when he woke up; he had probably heard him yell as well. Fuck. How was he supposed to look the other in the eyes without feeling ashamed?

When his gaze fell on the black silhouette of the island they were anchored in, so familiar, the pain in his chest increased enough for him to wince. He wanted to break something. He needed to get away, relax, calm the fuck down and forget about this nightmare. It wasn't the first nor the last one he'd have. Though this time it had been worse. Sanji snarled at no one in particular and made his way to the galley, ready to kill his notebook with new meal plannings and not giving a fuck if his watch would start in a few hours. He wasn't getting back up there, he didn't want to see Zoro, he didn't even know how to look at him. And if the bastard had the brilliant idea of following him into the galley, he'd make sure to kindly kick his way out.

When the fourth cigarette was lit, he finally calmed down. He didn't feel better, on the contrary, a deep feeling of dread and nausea was currently swapping for his blood. But at least he wasn't freaking out anymore, his mind was clear again and his mask back in place. _About fucking time._

What annoyed him the most was the fact that lately he had more difficulty keeping his facade in place when the swordsman was around. He didn't like it. He had always been able to keep control. Helplessly watching as it slipped away didn't set well in him. _Specially_ in front of the swordsman, his ultimate rival. He couldn't let Zoro think he was weak, and he was doing an awful job of it. He had embarrassed himself more than he could allow. He already knew he wouldn't be able to face him in the morning. Not a chance. The _last_ thing he wanted was to see Zoro's pity in his gaze the moment he looked at him. Just thinking of that possibility made him want to break things or run away, or both of them.

Sanji buried his face in between his hands, squeezing his hair up to the point it was painful.

Karma really was a bitch.

* * *

Up in the crows nest Zoro punched a wall and did it again and again, his knuckles starting to bleed by the fifteenth hit. He wanted to go find Sanji and drag his ass back there, but that's where his brilliant plan ended, he just couldn't come up with what to do next. He wanted to erase the image of Sanji's mask crumbling and being built up again in seconds, he didn't want to remember how he'd been trembling, he didn't want to keep hearing Sanji's desperate cry in his head.

He wanted to fix whatever was broken, but Sanji was succeeding in caging it away, only letting it slip from time to time and not for long enough as for Zoro to do anything about it. He wanted to break everything on board, but the remnants of logic in his head told him it was a bad idea. So was following the cook right now, much to his despair.

Zoro yelled and barked some swearings before settling for starting a deadly training regime that would be able to drain his fury away. Hopefully.

He felt helpless. He didn't know what to do, even when he was desperate to do something.

When Sanji's watch started and he didn't come up the crows nest, Zoro knew he wasn't going to do so until he was gone. With a sigh, he decided he'd take his turn. He couldn't sleep anyways, as much as he might try.

**TBC**

* * *

**A/N:** Hiiiiiii I'm back! Oh my, this one was so long, but I hope you guys like it!

I'm sorry if this was too angsty, but I felt like it has to go this way, since everything is botteling up and it's about to explode. Don't worry, things will start getting better in the following chapters, I'll see how it turns out.

As always, thank you for your reviews, they motivate me a lot! Let me know what you think please! :)


	14. Chapter 14 - Tension

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* * *

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**Chapter 14**

**Tension**

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* * *

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Zoro woke up to an empty crows nest.

Not exactly a surprise but still a disappointment.

It would have helped to calm his nerves if Sanji had been there with him. That would mean everything was fine and back to normal. It obviously wasn't. Sanji had this stupid pride – not that Zoro's was any better – and Zoro was pretty sure that the blonde would avoid him and feel ashamed of his last night's actions. Great. More self-inflicted problems for the cook. He really didn't need to be so self-despising, there was nothing wrong with anything he had done.

Zoro growled in displeasure and decided to stay laying there until the cook called them for breakfast, since he wasn't sure about how to approach him. Most likely scenario was that Sanji would plainly avoid him if they happened to be alone, he just knew it. So he patiently waited and gave himself time to think of something that would make things better. Not that he came up with a brilliant plan or anything.

At some point Sanji's sultry voice caught his attention as he invited the lovely ladies to the galley for breakfast and barked at the smelly idiots in the crew to move their asses to the galley about right now. Zoro rolled his eyes and descended to deck, feeling uneasy and not knowing what to expect.

"Can't you move your ass faster, you damn lazy marimo?" Sanji barked at him when he came to sight. Everyone else was waiting inside.

Zoro frowned at him, trying to read the blonde's thoughts, but everything seemed to be back to normal and their bickering pace back. Key word: seemed. There was something in Sanji's expression that told him he _would_ avoid him if they were left alone. Maybe it was the way he tried to evade eye contact.

"I'm coming, damn it," Zoro grunted.

"You better."

Sanji went inside ahead of him, fast as lightning, almost as if he was trying to shorten their daily casual conversation time. Which he definitely was. Sanji was ashamed and embarrassed because of last night's events, and he wouldn't let himself live it down. He couldn't let Zoro see him like this ever again, and he was afraid that he would lose it again in front of him if he spent too much time with the swordsman. Doing so lately had clearly brought him to lower his walls down, which wouldn't do anymore if he intended to keep the remnants of his dignity safe in front of Zoro. So he'd rather cut it short and put some needed distance between them, because he frankly didn't know what had been going on lately between him and the swordsman nor did he want it to continue that way. It was messing them up.

Zoro sighed. Damn it.

Breakfast went by faster than usual since there was almost nothing to eat, but nobody complained when they left the galley feeling hungry. Zoro saw Sanji's expression as he turned to wash the dishes by himself; he didn't like it one bit. And he specially hated how the cook had been quite evasive when it came to Zoro while keeping a fake sense of normality in the atmosphere. Damn masked bastard.

So when he offered his help to wash the dishes, much to Usopp's surprise and Nami's evil delight, and Sanji kicked him out more harshly than necessary, he stepped on deck with a really bad mood and some decisions made.

He couldn't fix Sanji because he wouldn't let him, frustration had made him pretty sure of it, and he was getting tired of this shit, specially when collateral stuff was awakening to the deeper contact and attention towards the blonde. Collateral stuff he didn't want to know about.

He decidedly walked to Luffy as his captain beamed at him from the railing, apparently oblivious or ignoring Zoro's murderous aura. Zoro swore he was starting to be fed up with this.

"Luffy, I need to talk to you."

"Wanna play?"

"Serious stuff."

"We can play tag."

"We won't. We're gonna talk."

"Duh. Boring. Why? Something's wrong?"

Zoro scowled deeper and took a look around him to check if anybody was eavesdropping. Apparently not. He sighed and tried to relax his stance so that nobody would be suspicious of his wary attitude. He sat down on the grass and Luffy plopped by his side, finally understanding that the situation was serious. At least to Zoro.

"So?"

"Sanji's what's wrong."

Luffy raised an eyebrow, for several reasons. One, if Zoro was saying Sanji's name as it was, it _really_ was serious business. Two, he seemed worried about their cook, which wasn't exactly new as everybody in the crew already knew since ages ago what those two idiots kept denying: they cared for each other like nobody else did. They more than possibly shared the strongest and most respectful nakama bond among the whole crew, _everybody_ knew, but they'd never acknowledge it for what it was. But hearing Zoro express his concerns out loud was a whole new thing, a quite alarming one for that matter. Three, he was seeking Luffy's help, which meant Zoro felt helpless and at loss of what to do. Which was another first.

So Luffy's expression grew serious. Because now he was serious too.

"What's wrong with Sanji?"

Zoro felt something in his stomach, something that reminded him of poorly controlled anger.

"What the fuck do you mean 'what's wrong with Sanji'? Can't you tell?" he hissed, barely containing a snarl. "I seriously can't believe I'm the only one who has noticed that there's something utterly wrong with him! Do you all really care this little for him? What is he? A fucking passing cook who happens to be in our crew or our fucking nakama?!"

Luffy frowned in an annoyed fashion.

"Oi, oi, don't you dare say that! Of course he's our nakama!"

"Then you should have fucking _noticed_!"

He didn't even know why he was this angry, but he was. He had thought that his crewmates would have noticed by now, even if they hadn't shown it. But if even Luffy hadn't, then what? So their cook was going through an inner turmoil and a path of self-despise and self-destruction and nobody fucking cared? Didn't even notice?

"Notice what, Zoro?" Luffy replied, visibly annoyed at his first mate for his assumptions. "How he eats less and tortures himself over how we get to eat less and less each day? Is that what you mean?"

Zoro blinked. Then his hand grew a will of his own and trapped Luffy's shirt in a vice, aggressively pulling him until his face was centimeters away from Zoro's. Luffy didn't look surprised.

"What the fuck?! Then why the hell haven't you done _anything_?!"

"Because you were already taking care of him and you were doing a better job of it than I ever could," Luffy stated simply.

And Luffy's logic froze Zoro in place, blinking like an idiot because sometimes he couldn't really wrap his head around the fact that Luffy was indeed a very observant and perceptive bastard. He _had_ noticed. Damn, he had noticed and he had cared about Sanji, he had just trusted Zoro to fix it because he had considered that he was the best to do it.

Just that he was _wrong_ because Zoro had no clue about how to fix the mess that Sanji was slowly bound to become.

"Damn it, I'm sorry, Luffy," he apologized with a sigh as he let go of him as gently as he could to make up for his harsh treatment. He should have known Luffy would know. He _did_ take good care of his nakama after all. He was that great of a captain, he shouldn't have doubted him.

"Nah, don't worry, I would be mad as well if I was you."

Zoro shook his head, looking at the ground, embarrassed of himself.

"So, what's the deal? What did Sanji do that had you worrying this much?"

"I'm not worried about that bastard," Zoro barked as he regained some of his liveliness along with a very good dose of annoyance and a bad mood. "It's not something he has done. It's his attitude. He's getting worse and worse. He doesn't let me help him and I can't do anything else."

He wasn't about to mention last night's incident, of course.

"Nah, you _can_ do something. You just don't know how."

"Do you?"

"No idea. That's why I'm delegating this job to you," Luffy grinned, patting his shoulder.

Zoro wanted to punch his captain. Like, seriously punch him in the face and beat him to a pulp.

"Can't you just... I don't know, go order him to brighten up or get his shit together or something? As his captain. He'll have to listen to you, he has always listened to what you have to say, I honestly believe you could do better than me," Zoro insisted. "Go talk to him, convince him of what he's worth or whatever you come up with; he'll listen."

Hell, Zoro couldn't believe those words were escaping his lips.

"No, I can't do better than you. Seriously, Zoro, don't worry too much and do what feels right. If he needs a good punch in the face you're allowed to give him one, it's for you to decide. And, if after you've tried you need some help in kicking his ass, then I'm all for it, but it's you who'll take care of him, understood?" Luffy replied with a cheerful smile. As if nothing was wrong. As if he really believed Zoro could do this, as if he didn't think it was as much of a deal as it was for Zoro, who was about to go nuts because of the blonde.

Zoro didn't want to agree. He wanted to tell him that it was his fucking job as a captain to take care of his crew, he wanted to tell him that he just couldn't do it, he wanted to take the chance to fly away of whatever his new closeness with Sanji was doing to him because he knew he was approaching dangerous territory that both him and Sanji tiptoed around and he didn't want to be _anywhere_ near that. He wanted to tell Luffy that he wouldn't do this, that it was his problem, that he was fed up and tired of the cook, that he didn't want anything to do with him; he wanted to tell him to fuck off and face his own responsibilities and that he was wrong about Zoro being able to do better than him because Zoro was at total loss of what to do.

"Okay, Luffy, okay," he answered instead with a weary sigh.

He really didn't want to do this.

He didn't want to keep making the blonde's problems his own because it was driving him insane and he hadn't been this worried about someone since... okay, he didn't remember the last time he'd been this obsessed over someone, because, let's face it, he had grown _obsessed_ with Sanji and there was nothing he could do about it now. Unless he ran away and left him alone to his own devices. Which was apparently not a possibility; Luffy had made it crystal clear.

Zoro wanted to punch something and he was nowhere near relieved after what he had hoped would be a relieving conversation with his captain that would lift the burden off his shoulders. It hadn't.

"Zoro," Luffy called as he stood up.

"What."

He was annoyed, and angry, and weary, and afraid.

"Fix Sanji, okay? He's not broken, just shattered."

Zoro sighed and hid his face behind his hand, trying to keep his cool.

"Roger, captain."

Just that he didn't know how to do it. Something told him that he couldn't. Not if he kept tiptoeing around the problem so as to avoid collateral shit going on around them both. So, really, he had no idea how to go about it. Shit.

Couldn't everything go back to normal? Couldn't they go back to the old days where they ignored each other's business and crept on each other's nerves for the sake of it? When the major mindfuck he had regarding the blonde was why the hell he got hard now and then when fighting him. Looking back, it wasn't that big of a deal, just some damaged brain cell of his that did weird things to him from time to time.

Asides from that, his only job was to answer to the cook's taunts and enjoy their fights because, fuck, he enjoyed every second of them. Have fun, argue for nothing and pretend he hated him when Sanji was actually his closest nakama, a great cook and a better sparring partner. Never mind his assholeness. Zoro was also quite an asshole when it came to the cook, to be fair. But everything was balanced and crystal clear. No major life-changing questions, no labyrinths to get to Sanji, no gut twisting worry of... losing him for real.

Because nowadays Sanji was there, but sometimes he didn't recognise him. Sometimes the cook looked weak and sad and defeated and frustrated. And those were the times Zoro missed _their_ Sanji. The one that didn't wear a mask. The fact that what Zoro was seeing these days was Sanji's tailor-made mask and not his real self, even if it was currently breaking, did unspeakable things to his sanity. He wanted Sanji back. He wanted the old days back. Everything was much easier back then.

But they weren't coming back, were they? Even if he managed to kick the cook's brain in so that he'd realize how absurd it was for Sanji to torture himself like this over _nothing_, there still were underlying issues that had grazed the surface and weren't going to go down ever again. Issues Zoro would have to face sooner or later, because there was something about how he felt about Sanji that was different from before; raw and deepingly worrying. And he didn't want to face it. At all.

Zoro spent the rest of the day lifting weights and letting his mind go blank because he was tired and he didn't need the shit his brain was pulling him in.

* * *

Lunch time flew by with even less food than they'd had for breakfast.

Again, no one complained.

But Sanji's apparently calm expression grew more pained than before and Zoro had to gulp down his beer to clear a weird lump in his throat. He said nothing.

The cook had been averting his gaze all the meal, still throwing some jabs at him and bickering for the sake of tradition and appearances, but he hadn't _really_ looked at him once. He was too embarrassed to do so. Sanji was convinced Zoro saw him as weak now. And he didn't want to see that reality reflected in his eyes. He had enough knowing so himself. If he so much as took a glimpse of pity coming from Zoro, he would break for real. He didn't need this.

Zoro wanted to shake him and tell him there was nothing to be embarrassed about, but he knew that doing so would be like talking to a wall, since Sanji wouldn't listen. So he walked away when the others did and left Sanji washing dishes with an overly cheerful Chopper who tried to appear as if he wasn't hungry and worried to death so that Sanji would feel more at ease with him. Had to love the little reindeer. So Chopper _had_ noticed too.

"Do you need to talk?"

Zoro turned to Robin, who had approached him from behind.

"Talk about what?" he suspiciously asked.

"You look stressed out," Robin pointed out.

"I'm fine."

"You are worried about Sanji."

Apparently, Robin had _also_ noticed. Of course. Robin would notice that your eyelash is hurting before you know it.

"I'm not."

Robin raised an eyebrow. She was about to say something but closed her mouth at the last moment. Zoro's determined expression told her that he wasn't going to talk about it. To be honest, Zoro wasn't good at talking about his emotions so he felt uneasy if somebody asked about them, which was what Robin was trying to do. Because she knew he needed someone to talk to, but she also knew he wouldn't spill the beans both to preserve his pride and because he didn't know how to do it without making a fool of himself. She had tried, though. Robin sighed.

"I get you don't want to talk about it, but in my honest opinion you're both making things more complicated that they are. Sanji's reaction to the latest events is just wrong and hurtful for him; he is making a huge deal out of something that's not his fault by blaming himself."

Zoro snorted. "Spot on. Go tell him, see if he listens to you, because he won't be fucking reasonable about it!"

"On the other hand, you're making a huge deal out of what's happening to Sanji and, as I see it, you're worrying way too much. This is hurting yourself as well. It's not like Sanji's going to die or anything of the kind. He needs time and a bit of help to open his eyes, not huge amounts of concern and pity."

Now, Zoro didn't like this one remark as much as the other. He actually didn't like it _at all_. His brows furrowed in indignation.

"What the hell!"

"Also, you should probably stop denying 'things' just because you're afraid of the consequences that accepting them may bring. Blinding yourself isn't the best way to go about it."

"What the fuck is this about?!" Zoro barked as he watched Robin walk away without giving him an answer.

Now he was even angrier and even more confused. Damn that woman. He didn't need to be told that! His own brain giving him shit about this was more than enough, thank you very much!

Great news: Robin had noticed his Sanji-obsession problem.

_Shit_.

That just made it even more real.

* * *

The next day, they didn't manage to catch anything and the portions were even smaller.

Sanji couldn't bring himself to look at anyone in the eye when serving them their rations.

And Zoro couldn't bring himself to dissimulate when he let his head fall in his hands out of frustration the moment he saw _that_ one defeated look in Sanji's expression as the cook turned his back to refill the women's glasses. His crewmates gave him a weird look as they finished their plates, but Sanji wasn't looking at him since he had made it a goal not to do so, so he didn't see it.

Zoro took Chopper's watch because he didn't feel like sleeping. Well, not really, he _did_ feel like just falling asleep and forgetting everything, and he did need a good night's sleep, but he knew he wouldn't be able to do so. The cook's face that night had been... Damn, his fucking mask didn't even stand properly, it kept slipping away. He could just wonder how long it would take before the cook would break. Because, unless they managed to catch something again or sail to a new inhabited island where they could restock, the cook would just fall appart, and he knew it. He had seen it in the crow's nest two nights ago. Sanji's cry kept repeating in his head like a chant and wouldn't let him sleep. Nor did the memory of Sanji's precious hands trembling, his whole body shaking as he succeeded in fighting away the tears he knew he had been about to shed because his visible blue eye was far too shiny under the moonlight.

Shit, what if the cook broke down and _cried_? What would Zoro do? He had never seen him cry. And he didn't want to. He didn't know how to deal with people crying, much less Sanji. Zoro was pretty sure he would freak out and be completely useless if that ever happened.

Damn, and the bastard wouldn't let Zoro come anywhere near him even though he kept their relationship ordinary on the surface. As if nothing was wrong when everything behind Sanji's mask was crumbling at the same rhythm their supplies grew smaller and the crew grew hungrier.

Sanji was _terrified_ and Zoro knew it. Sanji knew what starvation did to people. Sanji was stuck in a rock far too similar to his own personal hell along with his crewmates and a diminishing amount of supplies that were starting to amount to nothing. Sanji blamed himself because he had 'let Nami get hurt' and so she hadn't been able to get them out of trouble before the worst fucking storm in their lives had stuck them in that stupid island with almost no supplies and a broken ship that was still to be completely repaired, Sanji being unable to keep them from starving. Which was totally idiotic, in Zoro's opinion, because none of their recent bad luck strikes was the bastard's fault, but Sanji would hear none of that.

But it didn't really matter. _The_ thing, in the end, was that Sanji was breaking and panicking on his own and Zoro didn't know how to fix him.

Zoro let his head fall to his hands yet again, a sorrowful sigh escaping his lips. He tightened his grip when he realized his hands were trembling. Damn, if only he could sleep without dreaming of all the stupid things Sanji could do out of desperation. Because his brain had the ability to imagine the worst case scenario and exaggerate every single thing regarding the cook's current state, and Zoro was sick and tired of it.

Damn it.

If only the cook would listen...

If only he knew what to do to get him to stop worrying so much and just smile and shake his guilt away... Because there was nothing he was guilty of asides from being an idiot.

Damn it.

He was so sick and tired of this. Really.

The whole situation was a ticking bomb. He vaguely wondered who would snap first. Because things were about to explode if something didn't change soon for the better. He just knew it. Right now everything was still and quiet; Sanji was putting distance in between them as he slowly consumed himself in guilt when he saw his crew's meals grow smaller and smaller; and Zoro wasn't saying a thing about it, he wasn't actively trying to do anything as he grew more frustrated and angrier and helpless by the second, as he just fucking _watched_.

There were so many things that were wrong, yet they pretended they weren't. To be fair, their relationship right now was the calmest it had been in a while; Sanji keeping Zoro away seemed to do the trick. For now. Zoro had never _felt_ this tense and Sanji was in no better condition. It was like the calm before the storm, just like when the wind had stopped right before that huge storm had swallowed them. There was the same sense of wrongness, the same sense of things reaching a breaking point. Because they were about to.

Shit, something needed to change. Or things would really get ugly for one of them, if not for both. Scratch that, if things were to get ugly for one of them, they'd consequently get ugly for the other.

Zoro sighed again and, this time, his breath came out trembling.

Damn, he needed a break.

* * *

And, sure enough, it was two days later that hell broke loose.

**TBC**

* * *

**A/N: **Hi guys! Sorry for the delay, I wasn't very inspired... :( But here's another chapter! :D :D :D

I really hope you like it, it was very Zoro centric...

Things are getting tense and reaching a breaking point... Let me know what you think about it! Thank you very much for your reviews and for following and favoriting! :D

Big hug to all of you!


	15. Chapter 15 - Breakdown

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* * *

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**Chapter 15**

**Breakdown**

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* * *

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"So, how long will it take?"

Franky looked at him with a weary and serious expression. He had been working on repairing the ship with Usopp for days already, barely sleeping or getting any rest at all, but there were still no signs that they were going to leave that damn rock anytime soon.

"I don't know, Zoro. A few more days. It's turned out to be more damaged than I first thought. We are working hard for it to be repaired the fastest possible but I seriously have no clue."

He sounded frustrated and dead worried. Franky knew they were in serious trouble, he knew they were running_ really_ low on food supplies and he felt hunger bug his stomach as much as the rest of the crew did. The food would last what it would, and it wasn't long. If they didn't manage to get the hell out of there soon, they'd starve. Unless they got lucky again and caught a fish or a lost bird passing them by. Which they probably wouldn't.

Zoro sighed. Frustration is contagious.

"No worries. If you need my help with something, just tell me. You can do this. We still have time."

Just that not that much.

Franky nodded and sighed back as Zoro left. Zoro must have been really worried if he was being this talkative. Ordinary Zoro would have gone for an "I see" or a nod for an answer.

Next thing he did was even more out of character. He went to visit Nami. Willingly. The redhead lifted her head in surprise when Zoro walked in and stood next to her desk with a doubtful expression that barely resembled a pout.

"What do you need?" she asked cautiously. "If you are coming to ask me to reduce your debts, you shouldn't waste your time."

Zoro scowled. "That's not it. You're an avaricious witch, it's not even worth my efforts, I know already."

Nami smirked. She looked considerably thinner. Like everyone else on board.

"Then what, Zoro?"

"I was wondering if there's a route planned for when the ship is repaired. So that we can get somewhere inhabited fast."

Nami turned serious and shifted in her seat to take a better look at Zoro.

"I'm working on it. I'm trying to draw the fastest route possible. I actually think that once we sail away from this rock we'll be able to hunt something down, so we won't have to rush this much but, just in case we weren't this lucky, I'm trying to decipher what's the fastest way to get to the next island. Is this what was worrying you?"

Zoro took a look at the myriad of maps on her table, scribbled with notes and directions and lots of question marks. He shrugged.

"Just wanted to know."

There was a small silence in which Zoro kept inspecting Nami's maps from where he stood as she swiftly stared at him with as much detail.

"So, more or less, how long would it take?"

"Getting there?"

Zoro nodded.

"I'm still working with possibilities. It should be two weeks, but there's a possible route that would let us make it in roughly a week or so. Maybe."

Zoro sighed. Again. Sanji had calculated that the food would last them a week, ten to twelve days at most. The week had already gone by. They were running out of time.

"Make it a week."

"I know what I have to do without you ordering me around, Zoro, this is _my_ job, may I remind you," Nami replied with an annoyed frown.

They were all being put to test and pressured with this shit. Specially Sanji, who was in charge of the food they were running out of; Franky and Usopp, who were doing whatever they could to get the ship fixed but were not fast enough as much as they cut their sleep and rest hours; and Nami, who'd have to lead them to the next island as fast as possible when the ship was repaired. They were the only ones with the means to get them out of this mess safe and sound and, truth be told, their nerves didn't need them to constantly be reminded of that.

Zoro scratched the back of his hair with an apologetic look.

"Yeah, sorry about that."

Nami's eyes went wide with surprise. If that wasn't Roronoa Zoro sincerely apologizing to her. He must have been _really_ worried.

"By the way, how's your injury?"

Now Nami's eyes were the size of a plate.

"Uhm... Chopper's pills are working just fine. I'm fine, thank you."

Just that she wasn't, really. She was feeling weak and she stumbled when she walked or stood for too long. The injury was healing just fine, it was Chopper who was taking care of it after all, but it still had been a really ugly wound to begin with and, for normal people, injuries took time to heal.

"Come on, get out of here so I can do my work," she rushed him as she turned to her maps.

* * *

Sanji sighed when he saw the size of the dishes he was about to serve. Shit. He wanted to cry out in frustration. The last days had been a hell of a nightmare. Seeing as he could barely do a damn thing to prevent the crew from starving, being stranded in a godforsaken island that was a copy of the one haunting his nightmares, seeing Nami's weakened state every damn time he walked across her and knowing it had been his fucking fault. And then that fucking thing going on with Zoro. Whatever it was.

When he wasn't pitying and punishing himself for all the loads of guilt he felt, he thought about that. He just couldn't name whatever had happened to his relationship with the swordsman.

Truth be told, it had always been intense. Damn, it was always _fucking intense_. A small spark turned to flames when it came to him and Zoro. But now it was just weird. They had gotten so close so fast it didn't even make sense. The thought occurred that they had _always_ been close, that there had always been a deep bond between them. Just that it turned out in fights and heated arguments that fuelled their tempers. And, when it came to it, deep trust to put their life in each other's hands when fighting against the enemy. It was this kind of fundamental trust which had somehow evolved to Zoro and him getting the weird kind of close when Sanji had crumbled. It was this kind of fundamental trust that had tricked Sanji into lowering his defenses and baring himself to the green haired man like he had never done with anybody else.

And he didn't want to do it again.

With this he had surely fucked up whatever special thing he and Zoro shared as nakama. Because he had most likely lost Zoro's respect that fucking damned night. He shouldn't have accepted Zoro's invitation, he should have known better, but he had still accepted and now he felt humiliated and ashamed of himself, and sharing a room with Zoro was becoming hell to endure. Especially when the other man kept scowling at his direction every second of the day.

That was the reason why he had put some distance where it should have been from the start. Go back to normal, regain his respect; that's what he was going to do, because he was a fucking grown man and not a baby who couldn't get a hold of himself and broke in front of his rival and now... friend? No, for fuck's sake, definitely _not_ friend! How could he name the way their relationship had turned out to be? _Had_. Whatever it was he had managed to lose it now, that was a given. It kind of hurt. Why the hell did he manage to fuck so many things up lately?

So what he was about to do now was putting him on edge, because he really wanted and needed to spend the least time possible with a certain marimo in order to get a good hold of himself, but it's not like he could run away from it.

He left the galley with a regretful look towards the dishes. There were eight of them, Brook had already renounced to his rations since he could and they really needed the food. One of the eight was significantly less full than the rest.

"Oi, marimo, wake up."

Sanji slightly kicked Zoro's side to wake him up. Well, he knew he wasn't asleep, just meditating, he could totally tell the difference, but traditions held an important place in the ordinary atmosphere Sanji was trying to regain. So, yeah, be an asshole, ignore him as much as you can and, then again, be an asshole; it was a pretty simple pattern to follow.

Zoro opened his eye and looked at him. He actually looked kind of surprised to see Sanji there. He had probably not expected Sanji to address him directly, not with how much he had been trying to avoid him lately.

"What do you want?" he sounded tense, all traces of playfulness gone. Sanji frowned deeper without the need of pretending. That somewhat hurt. But he was the one to blame after all. That's what he wanted, wasn't it?

"I need to talk to you and I need you not to make a scene about it."

Zoro didn't like his words one bit. Something he would dread was coming his way. He stirred and sat upright, looking at Sanji straight in the eye, daring him to say something stupid. Which he was about to do, no doubt.

"Are you listening?" Sanji asked, tilting his head when Zoro didn't answer.

"Yes." The answer was curt and something inside Sanji itched at the cold and distant sound of Zoro's tone.

Sanji sighed and readied himself to let it all out in one go. He knew Zoro wouldn't like it so he needed to send his message before he had a chance to interrupt him.

"Well, I'll be cutting my food ration short and there's no arguing it, I'll be doing it. Period. Just came to inform you since I promised you I'd do so."

Zoro's face went blank. Then his jaw tensed up to a painful point and a vein popped in his forehead as he tried to restrain himself. His tone was calm and steady when he spoke.

"What?"

"You already heard it and I'm not planning on arguing with you, so there you go. Lunch is ready, tell the others," Sanji resumed as he turned his back to Zoro in order to walk back to the galley. He really didn't need this. He didn't want to deal with Zoro giving him shit about it.

But he was obviously not that lucky.

When Sanji felt Zoro's hand pulling his wrist aggressively, he snatched his arm away as if he had caught fire and put some distance in between them with a snarl. Shit, he _really_ didn't need this shit.

"What the fuck are you doing, Sanji!" Zoro snarled back. Somehow, Sanji escaping of his hold as if he was allergic to him had irked him more than he had ever expected it would, all of his nerves snapping at once.

Sanji grimmaced. Damn, Zoro had used his name again. That was fucking unfair.

"None of your business. I do what I please and I don't need you nagging me about it."

"I'm not letting you do it," Zoro retaliated, a growl starting to form in his chest. Damn, now he was furious as hell.

"Well, too bad you can't shove the food down my throat."

"Damn sure I can!"

Sanji growled back, a vein matching Zoro's in his forehead.

"Zoro, I just said I wasn't going to lose my precious time arguing with you about this. The decision is made and there's nothing you can do about it, so shut the fuck up and let me be! What I do is _none_ of your business, my life doesn't concern you, we're not fucking friends, so mind your own business and fucking leave me alone once and for all!"

Ouch, saying that out loud had hurt more than he had expected. And judging from Zoro's expression, it had done the same to him. At that point he had expected Zoro to punch him, he really had. He had probably been about to. The way his jaw tensed and his hands fisted told him that he had managed to restrain himself. But Zoro's look was worse than that never-coming punch. It showed so much hurt and fury it didn't even make sense.

"_Fine_. Do whatever the fuck you want. I don't fucking care anymore."

And he turned his back and left.

Sanji felt a lump in his throat as he watched his retreating back. _I don't fucking care anymore_. Well, that's what he should have done from the beginning. That's how things should have been from the start. Zoro not caring and minding his own business instead of helping him and being by his side.

The thought hurt more than a knife stabbed in his chest, though.

Sanji wanted to kick something. But that's what Sanji had asked for, so he took it in and blinked hard to prevent any wetness from even _thinking_ of appearing in his eyes, because, just _no fucking way_.

"_Lunch_!" he roared as he furiously stomped to the galley and closed the door with a far too forceful thump.

* * *

Zoro didn't even look at him during lunch. He totally ignored him, as if he didn't exist. Good. That's what he had been hoping for, what things should be like. Such a shame that the way things should be like was so damn painful. And sad. Above all, even above feeling guilty about pretty much everything happening on board, Sanji felt _sad_.

Dinner went the same way. Zoro did his very best to ignore the bastard they had for a cook. So he wanted him to leave him alone? His pleasure. He was fucking tired of all the bullshit going on and he was fucking tired of Sanji being too proud to let someone help him. He was tired of Sanji feeling like he had to take the burden alone. Because Zoro was fucking _there_ and ready and _willing_ to help, in case he hadn't fucking noticed! But Sanji was impossible and Zoro didn't know what to do anymore so, if Sanji wanted him out of his fucking life, then Zoro was all for it. Less problems for him.

Just that it was so hard to ignore how Sanji's plate was barely containing food and how no one pointed it out. And it was so fucking painful to see Sanji slowly sinking. And it was so fucking hard not to do anything. He wanted to be by his side and bring the bastard back, as corny as that sounded, and he wanted to be the pillar Sanji could rely on instead of fucking making himself crumble by carrying all the burden he could gather.

He had come to think that's what they were. When they fought they trusted each other with their lives, they were each other's pillar when the other would slip or stumble; they would fight all the enemies away like that. They had recently been closer than Zoro had ever been with anyone and Zoro had come to think that maybe he could become Sanji's pillar outside of a fight. Damn, he had come to think of Sanji as _his_ pillar if he ever needed him like that. But turns out he was wrong because the blonde refused to have anything to do with anything resembling a pillar. Too proud and too manly for that.

Well, fuck him. If Sanji wanted Zoro to mind his own business, Zoro would mind his own fucking business, even if right now all Zoro wanted to do was stand up and shove his own food down Sanji's throat.

* * *

And the day after was just the same but worse since they were all hungrier and there was even less food left to eat. Sanji was at the brink of breaking things in frustration and Zoro was about to punch someone in the face to let his anger out. He was successfully ignoring Sanji, which was the way things were supposed to be and what Sanji had ordered him to do, but somehow it just felt wrong. For both of them.

Desperation was taking a toll on them and at this rate they would both go nuts; they were absolutely aware of it and so was the crew.

It wouldn't be this difficult if he hadn't realized the deep obsession he had with the blonde. That and the nagging question of what the hell had been going on between them and, more than that, why did he miss it now that Sanji was sweeping it away.

His eyes fell on Chopper, who was resting against the railing, looking frankly exhausted. His brotherly instincts awoke and Zoro walked to him with a cautious expression, hoping to get somehow distracted with the little reindeer.

"Hey, Chopper."

Chopper opened his tired eyes and weakly smiled at him, his expression cheering up.

Zoro sat by his side, arms crossed as usual as he studied their doctor. He really didn't look too well. Not that he had been complaining one bit. But he _did_ look like shit.

"How are you feeling?" he asked softly.

"Fine, just a bit tired," Chopper reassured him. "And it's me who should be asking these kind of questions, not you and Sanji. I'm the doctor, remember?"

Zoro's brow twitched. And here he thought he could get some distraction and forget about his frustrations (also known as the blonde) for a while.

"What about the cook?"

He didn't even know why he asked. He had promised himself to mind his own business and stop caring for what the bastard did. Because that's what they should be like, he kept repeating himself over and over again.

Just that, if they were totally sincere, it had _never_ been like that. All along they _had_ cared for each other. Given they had never showed it; they had hid it as best as they could, fighting, arguing, insulting each other, but they would have given their lives for the other from pretty much the start. They were the one the other trusted the most. And lately they had apparently decided to fuck it all and stop hiding it, just concealing it from being too obvious would be enough. But it had gotten complicated. And now they were supposed to _really_ ignore each other, to _really_ not care. Like, for real. Zoro was beginning to believe it was impossible. At least for him.

Chopper frowned, as if an idea that he didn't like one bit had popped in his mind.

"Well, this morning I got a little weak in the knees when I woke up, and he saw it. He offered me his portion of food for breakfast."

Zoro closed his eyes and exhaled through his nose, trying to calm himself down. Figures. A sense of dread invaded his whole body.

"Did you accept?"

"Of course not!" Chopper replied indignantly, as if the mere thought insulted him. Zoro sighed in relief. "Sanji is an idiot if he thinks any of us will accept something like this, as much as he wants to take care of us!"

"Well, he's already eating _less_," Zoro pointed out more aggressively than he wanted to. It really frustrated him that the crew played the oblivious part when it came to what Sanji was doing to himself.

"I know."

Zoro ran a hand through his face, seriously having trouble with restraining himself anymore.

"Then why don't you say or do _something_?" he groaned in despair. It was almost a whine.

Chopper gave him a shocked look. He had never seen Zoro like this, at the brink of… what? Desperation? If Zoro ever felt like this he'd never let it show, that was part of his trademark badass attitude. Now he wasn't even bothering on hiding it, which was alarming.

Zoro groaned. So much for not giving a fuck and minding his own business.

"I have. I've talked to him a few times but he won't change his mind. As long as he doesn't completely stop eating there's nothing much I can do. But don't worry, Zoro, if he did something stupid, I'd personally tie him down and force the food down his throat."

Zoro grunted in response. What an idiot he was. Again, _of course_ Chopper would notice. He was the doctor of the crew, the greatest he had ever met, and he always took good care of the crew's health. Maybe if he was resigning to Sanji's stubbornness it meant the bastard wasn't harming himself _that_ badly… Maybe the cook actually knew what he was doing. Not that it made Zoro worry any less about him.

Chopper looked at him with big concerned eyes and Zoro realized he had just spaced out. He restrained a sigh and smiled at the little reindeer, patting his trademark hat with affection.

"You are worried about him, aren't you?" Chopper suddenly asked.

The words spoken hurt like someone had slapped him across the face.

"No."

_He won't let me_, he thought. The answer was quick. Too quick. And too fake for even Chopper to believe him. He sent him a sad look as Zoro got a hold of himself and stood up to leave.

Chopper didn't try to stop him. He wasn't the only one who had noticed something fundamentally changing between Zoro and Sanji as they kept growing frustrated. More like _switching on_. Chopper may be naive but he was sure that, whatever it was, it had been there from the start. It just needed a slight push to come to the surface. Just that maybe it hadn't happened at the right moment since both Zoro and Sanji seemed to be having trouble with themselves and complicating things when it should have been quite simple.

He had commented it to Robin when he had asked if she had noticed something weird going on between Sanji and Zoro. She had. They had briefly discussed it and when Chopper had mentioned how much of an idiot each of them was for not realizing they were really good friends who were just too proud to admit it, Robin let out a mysterious smile he couldn't quite decipher. Robin had suggested him not to comment on it out loud and just let those two be, and since Robin was a really sensible and intelligent woman, Chopper had agreed. Now he had to keep himself at bay and watch as those idiots kept being idiots by themselves instead of helping each other out, because, if there was something Chopper knew for sure, it was that those two needed each other more than they'd ever care to admit.

As he was saying; _idiots_.

* * *

Dinner passed by quite fast. There wasn't much to eat after all. That had been an awful day. There was this cereal bag that had gone to waste after Franky had tripped and dropped cast iron on it. How the fuck he had managed to do something like that near the pantry was a mystery, but this crew was famous for being careless and, lately, Franky was carrying a lot of weird stuff around in order to repair the ship, so it really wasn't _that_ difficult to picture. Sanji's face had been a poem. Franky was at the brink of dramatically crying and making a scene as he profusely apologized to the cook, who kept staring at what had been a big part of their last supplies. But as much as Franky begged for it in order to compensate him for the damage caused, Sanji didn't beat the crap out of him, nor did he yell or insult him. He just stood there looking at the now useless bag lying on the floor. And he politely asked him to leave the room.

Zoro had seriously thought Sanji would finally snap but, when he didn't, he thought something was utterly wrong. He didn't mention it. He walked away as fast as he could; he didn't want to see Sanji's expression or else it would be him who'd snap.

The crew didn't see Sanji until dinner, when Franky was still sobbing while Robin patted his back. Poor man felt guilty as hell. It had obviously been a stupid accident, but the consequences could be fatal and they all knew it. The fact that Sanji wasn't making a scene about it only confirmed it.

Zoro walked to deck as soon as they finished. He knew he wouldn't stand being in the same room as Sanji for too long, not when he felt wrongness everywhere around him.

The sun was slowly setting and the sky was painted with orange and gold reflecting on the empty ocean's surface. He sat down on the grass and let the sun bathe his features. No laughs were heard around, everyone was dead tired and hungry, not even Luffy found strength to play around. Which obviously felt wrong. Chopper plopped somewhere near him and Zoro risked a sidelong glance at him. The little reindeer looked frankly weak. He heard Chopper's stomach grumble loudly from where he was and the sound troubled him to a fundamental level. Then he heard Chopper sniff. Zoro was about to stand up and walk to him when Usopp kneeled by the reindeer's side with a worried expression.

"Hey, buddy, you alright?"

Zoro saw the effort Chopper was making in order to restrain himself but, just as another hungry grumble left his stomach, he sobbed and let Usopp hug him. Zoro frowned in worry. Sometimes he forgot Chopper was a kid, as much as he tried to be composed and serious. He felt the urge to nurse him.

"It's just…" he babbled in Usopp's arms. Usopp was now looking at Zoro, not knowing what to do, asking him to do something with his eyes. "Ugh, I'm sorry," Chopper apologized as he took a hold of himself and wiped his own tears away. "Sorry, it's just that I'm _so_ hungry…"

Zoro felt a pang in his chest. He hated teary Chopper. He liked the little reindeer smiling and being a dork.

But then he heard something clank against the deck's grass and his heart skipped a beat, fearing the worst. As his body spun around in panic, he met Sanji's face staring at Chopper's horrified one.

Shit. Fuck. _Not that_.

Sanji had heard.

Zoro watched in horror as the blonde's jaw clenched too hard for it not to be painful.

"Ah, Sanji, sorry, I…" Chopper stuttered, trying to find the words to make Sanji forget what he had just heard.

But Sanji drew an apologetic smile that had his mask crumbling as he crouched and gathered the pack of cigarettes he had just dropped.

"Uhm, sorry about that, I must be getting clumsy. Didn't intend on eavesdropping."

_Shit._ Zoro wanted to smash something in Sanji's face, tell him to shut the fuck up. But he could just watch in despair as the blonde's expression had trouble keeping itself stable behind a fake smile that hid so much hurt it was painful to watch.

"Sanji, that's not what I meant! I mean, we are all hungry, but I was in no way complaining! We are making it this far because of you! I…" Chopper was about to cry out of raw guilt. Crap, he didn't mean Sanji to hear. He didn't even know what to say to make everything right.

"Hey, Chopper, it's fine, really. I'm fine, no need to apologize," Sanji cut him with his terrible smile. "Don't worry, I'm going to find a way to make us all survive, you just wait and see, okay?" Sanji tried to sound reassuring. He even snickered as he tried to wave the problems away from Chopper's brain.

Zoro wanted to kill something.

Then Sanji lit himself a cigarette with a relaxed demeanour and took a drag, letting them know it was okay. Just that Zoro saw the slight tremble in his hand. Just that, from the angle Zoro was positioned in, he saw Sanji's face as he turned his back to them to walk back to the galley, when he thought nobody could see.

And it was _that_ face.

And Zoro snapped.

* * *

Shit. He needed to get to the galley. _Get to the galley, then you can crumble and break all you want. Just… Get to the galley, Sanji, you bastard. Don't let them see your weakness. _He wanted to cry. He felt like he was about to.

It would have been a greatly executed plan if he hadn't felt a murderous aura at his back just then.

"Oi," was all the warning he got.

Next thing he knew, he was facing Zoro's snarl as the green haired bastard tried to cut his head off. He barely dodged. Sanji gasped as his hands found purchase on the ground and launched him away from the man attacking him. Not for long. His feet had barely landed on the ground when Zoro's swords were at his neck again. He was using the three of them.

What. The. Fuck.

Sanji avoided the fatal attack with a swift kick that unbalanced Zoro's aim and left his chest exposed. Sanji threw his other leg at Zoro's chest, only to be blocked by two crossed swords and a deeper snarl.

"What the hell?!" Franky barked from his spot by the mast's side, which he was trying to fix. "Don't you dare break the damn ship again!" he threatened as he stood up with a dangerous scowl.

Sanji huffed. If they didn't get the fight elsewhere, they'd have a new fighter join in.

"What the fuck, Zoro!" he yelled as Zoro's blade barely missed Sanji's ear.

Zoro didn't listen, he just threw another blow, deadlier than before. Shit, the bastard was in for blood.

Sanji dodged another attack and gathered all his strength in his combusting right leg. Then he kicked Zoro hard on the chest and made him fly out of the ship. Sanji didn't waste time as he kicked the air and sky-walked to the swordsman, who was already on his feet with a nasty burn on his chest and ready to cut Sanji for real. Just that Sanji didn't give him the opportunity to do so. He dodged yet again and managed to kick the swords out of Zoro's hands and up the top of that shitty island.

"You want to fight?!" he snarled. Next thing he kicked was Zoro's stomach so that Zoro's destination would be the same as his swords. Sanji sky-walked right (more like sprinted) after him until he got on top of the damn rocks and spun around to avoid a new attack as Zoro gathered his swords back with a pained groan. "Then let's fucking fight!"

* * *

"Crap! Luffy, they are going to kill each other for real!" Usopp shrieked as he watched Zoro fly away and Sanji following him suit, both with murderous expressions on their faces. He had seen them fight, he had seen them go all out with each other, but this time it just felt wrong. The possibility of one of them ending up seriously injured or worse, dead, was starting to feel real as day.

"What the hell are those idiots doing?" Franky groaned as he joined the gathering crew at the railing so that he could get a better view.

Now Sanji had managed to kick Zoro's swords out of his hands and sent them flying up the top of the damn rocks they were stranded in. Zoro joined them not too long after. Sanji sky-walked right behind him. Then they lost sight of them.

"What happened?" Nami asked as she joined them with a frown. She had been working on her maps until the ruckus forced her to walk to deck in order to check what was going on. "These two fighting again?" she wondered as she noticed they were both missing.

A rock exploded on top of the island, another followed seconds later.

"They are going to get seriously injured!" Chopper cried as he tried to follow his friends' steps. Robin stopped him with sprouting arms that kept him in place. "It was my fault!" he whimpered.

"Why would it be your fault?" Brook asked with a curious tone. Apparently, he didn't quite get the mood.

"Because Sanji heard me say I was hungry, then he tried to pretend it was okay, and Zoro just went nuts and attacked him out of the blue! He almost cut his head for real! If I hadn't complained, they wouldn't have turned like this!"

"Hey, buddy, how's that your fault? Come on, don't cry, bro!" Franky kneeled by Chopper's side and patted his hat with a fatherly expression, placing his sunglasses to his forehead.

"Franky is right Chopper, it's not your fault that they both have damaged brain cells," Nami added matter-of-factly. "Moreover, we are all quite stressed out with our current situation, it's just normal that one of us would snap."

"What the hell? Isn't anybody going to do something about this?!" Usopp yelled as he pointed at a new explosion coming from the top of the island with a hysterical shaking finger. "Come on, Luffy, they are about to kill each other, this time it's serious, go and knock them off or something! Order them to stop! Do _something_, you're the captain, damn it!"

Luffy, who had been silent all along, looked back at Usopp, who was glaring hard at him. Their captain wore a blank expression that reminded them of an oblivious kid's. Which was Luffy's usual expression when he wasn't threatening to cut his face in half with his damn trademark grin.

"Luffy, are you even listening?!" Usopp insisted as he fisted Luffy's red shirt and brought his face to his long nose.

"Calm down, Usopp," he answered. Then he waved Usopp away as if he was an annoying fly.

"What the hell?! Aren't you going to do something about this?!" Usopp was seriously losing it now. He had seen Zoro's expression when he had almost cut Sanji's head off. It had been terrifyingly serious.

"Nah. Zoro is fixing Sanji. He was slightly shattered."

Usopp closed his mouth with a loud 'clack' and stood there staring at his captain's eyes. Luffy was dead serious and he seriously didn't give a fuck about the brutal fight going on over their heads. Which somehow made Usopp deflate and feel a huge deal less worried.

"Well, about time!" Nami huffed as she rolled her eyes in exasperation. "They were seriously starting to freak me out! That's more like them! Zoro better do this right or I'm not letting them on board again!"

Usopp gave her a confused glance. "What?"

"Sanji was a bit shattered," Luffy repeated by his side in the same tone he'd use to discuss the weather. "He just needed someone to help him get fixed."

"And how's Zoro going to-"

"Doctor Chopper, I think it'd be wise if you would start getting the infirmary ready," Robin intervened with her indecipherable smirk.

"Wait, and why does it have to be Zoro?" Usopp insisted.

"Crap! You are right! Those idiots are going to seriously injure themselves!" Chopper exclaimed with the desperate-doctor expression he had mastered in that crew. "I swear, they are a lost cause," he groaned as he stomped towards the infirmary, all traces of tears having disappeared and being replaced with a frustrated professional expression.

Luffy laughed as he watched him walk away and then went back to the lion's head he had claimed as his personal seat, apparently concluding the discussion and definitely ignoring the fight going on between two of his nakama.

"They are the biggest idiots I have ever met, I swear," Franky commented with an exasperated huff. Then he walked back to the mast in order to resume repairing it.

Robin chuckled as she patted Usopp's shoulder and left the deck along with Brook's characteristic laugh. That damn skeleton hadn't given a fuck from the start, that Usopp was sure of. The sniper was about to say something when Franky called his name.

"Are you going to come and help me or am I supposed to do this alone, bro?"

Usopp directed a pleading pout at Nami but she had been a lost cause from the start. None of them gave a royal fuck.

Usopp sighed and walked to Franky, trying to concentrate in the work he had to do instead of the possibility of two of his nakama killing each other for real.

* * *

Sanji threw himself at Zoro but Zoro cleverly avoided him and went back to the offensive as he landed a blow on Sanji's abdomen. Sanji's suit ripped and a thin line of blood appeared across his now exposed abs. Sanji, who had barely had the time to step back, landed on his back with a huff and jumped to the side when Zoro's swords made an indentation where Sanji had just been.

Sanji felt anger and rage take over his temper as he vaguely wondered what the fuck was going on with Zoro. Just that he didn't care anymore. Now he just wanted to kick the bastard's ass. For real. He needed to kick ass as much as he needed to breathe. He brushed the recent injury with his fingers and found them stained with blood. Great. Zoro wanted blood? He'd get some of his own. Neither Zoro nor Sanji gave a flying fuck anymore.

Zoro threw another blow and the huge rock at Sanji's back exploded in tiny pieces right after Sanji got out of the way and swiftly threw an army of kicks at Zoro's head, who first blocked and then was forced to dodge.

Sanji got back to his hands when he avoided a fatal blade and then spun around, his legs invisible in a whirlwind Zoro had trouble escaping from. One last kick fell on his shoulder full force and he lost a sword. Sanji kicked the air and sky-walked to get some height and angle, but found his face meeting the hard floor when Zoro's hand darted away and got a hold of his combusting ankle, yanking him down with a roar. Sanji coughed blood and rolled to the side when an immediate blow followed the dirty move and almost cut his head clean. Sanji got a hold of Zoro's wrist and bodily pulled him, growling when Zoro's surprised face was introduced to the sole of his foot. That gave him some time to get up and put some distance in between them.

He gave Zoro enough time to get a hold of himself, growl and stand up. Then his foot flew to his head and found empty air, Zoro's blade flew to Sanji's core and found rock, and the rock found its sad ending being cut in a million pieces.

"The fuck's wrong with you!" Sanji snarled as he let another rock replace his fate and break into pieces. His foot collided with another hard surface when Zoro dodged, and the rock was instantly destroyed and melted down. Sanji was on fire. Which meant he was now serious as well.

Zoro didn't answer. His next blow landed a cut in Sanji's arm. He groaned in pain but retaliated with a kick in the jaw that sent Zoro flying away and colliding with rocks that once again broke and turned to dust. He was on Zoro before the other could react. He dropped an axe kick and Zoro jumped to the side with a gasp, then put back his furious snarl and attacked him with his three swords at the same time. Sanji blocked with his sole and their faces stopped inches away from the other's. The battle momentarily focused there as they reduced each other to ashes with a glare. At some point they both broke and were thrown apart as more of the island's surface met its end.

Sanji's head collided with the ground and he felt blood on his face and in his mouth. He spit it out and swore out loud. Then gasped as he felt Zoro's presence already on him. The sword landed a cut on his leg as he jumped aside. Zoro's figure appeared in between the dust, the image ethereal. He was also bleeding hard. The burn in his chest looked painful, and his arms were also marked by Sanji's fire. There was blood coming out of his mouth as he clenched his injured jaw. But what kept Sanji in place was his stare. He looked at Sanji with a mixture of rage and hurt and _sadness_. A turmoil of pretty much everything going on in Sanji's head was reflected in Zoro's tormented gaze.

Sanji felt cornered. He felt panic grow in his chest as he realized he was about to crumble again, out of the blue. Why the fuck did that fucking swordsman manage to do that to him?! He was usually controlled but Zoro ignited him. Zoro made everything inside him go _raw_. And now he felt like the walls he had fought to rebuild for the past days were falling again as the swordsman walked towards him with a glare he had only seen in the battlefield. No, it was even a worse one, more intense, more mask-melting. It made him feel bare and exposed.

Well, _no way_.

Sanji roared as he aimed a kick at Zoro's face and collided with his shoulder when the other moved to the side. Zoro huffed but didn't jump away. Nor did he aim his swords at Sanji. He threw them away and a vicious snarl appeared on his face. Sanji gasped when Zoro got a hold of his burning leg and yanked his body towards him. Sanji stumbled. Zoro punched him in the face and Sanji fell to the ground. He rolled away when another punch flew to his head. He threw another kick and Zoro took it, but along with the blow, Zoro also took the chance to punch him in the face yet again. Sanji growled. His brain was vaguely screaming questions at him. What. The. Fuck. What the fuck was Zoro doing?!

Sanji grabbed Zoro's clothes and sent him flying over his head, momentarily earning some personal space. He scrambled to his feet but found Zoro's face in front of him, burning him down with that damn glare. Zoro tried to punch him again, but Sanji dodged and landed a kick against Zoro's chest. Zoro didn't back away despite a gurgle of blood escaping his lips.

Sanji wasn't on fire anymore. He was crumbling.

That's what he hated the most about Zoro. He managed to get under his skin. He managed to make everything he felt rawer, deeper, more real. He managed to make Sanji break down his walls. And Sanji didn't need any of this shit.

Zoro's punch landed on his stomach with brutal force and Sanji crouched in a bloody coughing fit. He hadn't seen that one coming. He blocked the next one with his leg, but a third one made it to his face. Sanji landed on his back with a thump and Zoro was on him. Shit. He was _not_ going to lose. Not against the damn swordsman.

Sanji angled his leg and yanked Zoro off him, throwing him on his back next to him. Next thing his brain registered was him on his feet and ready to kick Zoro's gut. He didn't foresee the fact that Zoro's hand would dart to his ankle _again_, since Zoro didn't seem to care about fair game anymore, making him fall on him, almost straddling Zoro. Sanji tried to get away, but Zoro's hold was ferrous and, as much as Sanji tried, he couldn't get off him. Zoro's damn gaze bore into his brain from under his weight and Sanji felt like a cornered prey. _Again_.

Fuck.

His fist went straight to Zoro's face and he saw surprise on his one good eye before it closed right before the impact. Just that the impact never came. Sanji's fist stopped inches away from Zoro's nose, suspended in the air as if something had managed to freeze it in his tracks. Sanji realized what he had just done when Zoro's eye opened again and surprise filled it once more. It was too late to react. In the blink of an eye it was him who was straddled by Zoro, who managed to get a grip on Sanji's wrists with his strong hands and immobilized his legs with his own weight.

Fuck.

Sanji closed his eyes tightly, ready for a punch.

"_It's not your fucking fault!_" Zoro roared, a vein popping in his sweaty and injured face.

Sanji's eyes flew open, and he immediately knew he shouldn't have done that. There was that gaze. Inches away from him. And it made him want to cry. Which he _wasn't_ about to do.

Fuck.

He really didn't need this.

"Fucking leave me alone!" he yelled, trying to get away from Zoro's hold. Which he couldn't do. Because he was desperate and all his strength was currently spent in keeping his crumbling mask in place. Which he couldn't do either.

Fuck.

"No! I'm tired of your bullshit, Sanji!" Zoro yelled back, his eye boring in Sanij's averting ones. "I won't leave you alone, heard that?! So you'll fucking shut up and listen!"

"Zoro, let go!" Sanji ordered, trying to imprint resolution in his expression. Which he also couldn't do. He was breaking and he knew it. Zoro knew it too. Shit, shit, _shit_! He couldn't have Zoro seeing him like this! Sanji struggled and injured his own wrists when Zoro growled and kept him in place, making Sanji's resistance futile.

Fuck.

"I told you to listen!"

"Fucking let me go!" Sanji yelled, not letting Zoro's words get to him. He didn't need them. He really didn't.

But if Sanji was loud, Zoro was louder.

"It's!"

"Zoro, fuck off!"

"_Not!_"

"Let me-"

"Your!"

"_Fucking let go!_"

"_Fault!_"

Sanji's words got caught up in his throat and he thought his eyes were going to combust.

_Fuck._

"_It's not your fault!_" Zoro repeated yet again, yelling for the world to hear, yelling hard enough to get through Sanji's thick skull, because he wasn't going to give up until he got the idea implanted in his damn brain. Because Zoro couldn't take Sanji's defeated version of himself anymore.

"Zoro-"

Sanji was breaking. For real. His usually strong and steady voice was quivering. He wasn't ordering anymore, he was pleading. His mask was shattering. His eyes were starting to burn like a threat. And he couldn't let Zoro see it; he _needed_ to get away from him.

"Zoro, let me-!"

"It's not your fault!" Zoro yelled again in order to make Sanji shut up. His tone was slightly lower than before. But it held even more conviction and desperation to get the message through. He would repeat that as many times as he needed to, he decided.

"It is, so fucking _shut up!_" Sanji howled, all his strength spent on yelling, his voice hoarse and about to break. He couldn't even struggle anymore. So he burst instead. "Nami got hurt because of me! If I had protected her she would have gotten us out of that fucking storm in time and we wouldn't be stranded in this shitty island with no supplies! I can't even feed my crew, and that's supposed to be my job! So it _is_ my goddamn fault!"

"No, it's _not_! That's just bullshit!" and Zoro was seriously considering beating Sanji up until the bastard understood. Which he was restraining himself not to do. Sanji's wrists were paying the price, currently victims of Zoro's vice-like grip. Why the hell couldn't that idiot understand? Why the fuck couldn't he get that he was not only hurting himself but Zoro's sanity as well?!

"_Why_ the fuck do you even _care_!" Sanji screamed at the top of his lungs, barely inches away from Zoro's face. Sanji was furious. Sanji was desperate. Sanji wanted to get away, hide so that he wouldn't embarrass himself even more. Because he knew he was about to snap. And he couldn't stand the idea of Zoro seeing him like that. That's what scared him the most. That's what tormented him the most, more than the guilt.

Zoro didn't back away.

He just exploded.

"Because I can't stand it when you are like this, Sanji, I fucking want you _back_!"

And Sanji couldn't find a rational retort to that for saving his life, because all words and strength left him in a breath's instant.

But Zoro wasn't about to stop there. He wanted to, he was _really_ trying to order himself to shut the fuck up, but just as Sanji's words disappeared into the unknown, Zoro's flooded his mouth and senses with no way to stop them.

"What the fuck do you think it feels like, uh?! Seeing you punishing yourself every fucking single day for something that's _not_ your fault!"

"Zoro, shut the fuck up."

"No, _you_ shut the fuck up! What the fuck do you think it feels like seeing someone I care about losing himself and being someone else I can't recognise! What the hell do you think I feel like when I see you like this?! What do you think I feel like when I can't fucking help you because you are an idiot who won't let me as much as I try?!"

"Zo-"

"Fucking get your shit together already because this is not the person I came to admire and respect! This is not the cocky badass bastard I came to consider my rival, my fucking _equal_! This is a defeated and self-pitying Sanji who doesn't even compare to your damn shadow on a cloudy day! And I fucking _hate_ it! When you are like this you make me want to break things, Sanji, you make me want to punch you in the face _so fucking hard_, you don't even know!"

Sanji couldn't register what he was hearing because his mask was completely reduced to dust. Zoro was fucking hammering it down with each word. And, at this point, Sanji was breaking down. Completely. He felt that familiar lump in his throat.

Fuck.

Why the hell was he even listening to that bastard? Why the hell did that bastard's words make him feel like crying? Why the fuck did he feel like he needed those words? And when the fuck had Zoro become a damn eloquent person?! Seconds ago he wouldn't have believed that bastard had that much vocabulary stored in his brain, much less the capacity to link words to express his thoughts like that.

And why the fuck didn't said bastard shut up already?!

"I'm fucking tired of this shit, Sanji! So fucking bring your true self back already, or start running for your life because I'm going to beat you up until I rearrange your brain back to normal, and I don't give a fuck if you die in the process! At least you'll be our Sanji and not a damn fake version of him, damn it!"

Fuck.

There was that unfamiliar wetness. Right behind his eyes. But he wasn't about to cry. He wasn't going to cr-

"It's not your fault, Sanji," Zoro whispered, boring his eye in Sanji's, trying to convey the message as best as he could by repeating it. He needed it to get to harbour. He needed it to get to Sanji so that Zoro'd get some of his sanity back.

And Sanji was crying.

_Fuck._

Zoro watched as Sanji bit on his own lip. _Hard._ Zoro watched as his whole body trembled in a futile attempt of holding back the tears that were already streaming down his cheeks and making his blue eyes look like the ocean on a rainy day. Zoro saw restraint and relief, he saw acceptance and denial, and guilt and embarrassment, and the realization that there was no guilt he should feel, and, above all, release and gratefulness. Sanji let all of it out like a flood, with no more restraints.

Zoro had never seen Sanji cry. Never had he thought he'd see him cry. He had never wanted him to.

And the sight overwhelmed him.

Before he registered what he was doing, he was squeezing Sanji in his arms, lending his nakama a shoulder to cry on. And Sanji did. He _sobbed_ and cried, and held tight onto Zoro, because some part in him still told him it was his fault, still reminded him that Nami had been hurt because his own convictions had made him weak, but there was that huge wave of relief yelling at him that it was alright, that there was nothing irreparable in what had happened, that all it meant was that he needed to get stronger; that he wasn't a failure, that everything was going to be fine because Zoro was there and he hadn't yet lost his respect but earned his support. He realized that, as much as the past was haunting him in that damn island and making him go nuts, this time around it was different. The whole crew was there, giving each other support, working hard as a team to get out of there and survive. Zoro was proving it. Zoro wasn't making fun of his tears; he was holding him tight for him to release everything he had bottled up inside.

Zoro was holding Sanji's head tight against his shoulder so that Sanji could hide his face and tears, so that he knew that Zoro wouldn't see them, respecting Sanji's private moment as he looked away at the sea.

No, Zoro didn't think Sanji was weak. Rather, he admired him for being _that_ strong. Strong enough to let his walls fall, strong enough to let it all out and fucking cry his anguish away in the presence of his rival instead of closing in the comfortable fortress that was his own head. Strong enough to let Zoro in and not give a fuck anymore.

"You know it's not your fault," he repeated with clenched teeth against Sanji's hair as the blonde grew calmer. "The only thing you should feel guilty for is for almost letting yourself be killed just because your opponent was a woman. That was just stupid," he growled as he remembered the scene and how Sanji had abandoned himself in that witch's hands. He felt Sanji slightly chuckle in between sobs, his face hid deep in his shoulder, warm tears wetting his vest. "And if you feel guilty for not protecting Nami, -which, by the way, none of us managed to do, mind you,- then just get stronger. All of us find walls in our way, all of us have our resolve threatened when something doesn't go as we'd want it to. We all feel weak when that happens. But we all promise ourselves to become stronger and that's what we do. That's how we, the Strawhats, work. Don't let this fucking bump in the road drown you. Your bastard badass-self is not someone who lets things like this get to him. Your bastard badass annoying-self kicks ass."

Sanji felt a smile tug at his lips, his sobs barely controlled.

"And don't you dare blame the storm and lack of supplies on you, because I'll seriously beat the crap out of your shitty curly-brow," Zoro groaned. He felt something heavy in his chest. There was relief in there, but there was also a boiling feeling he couldn't explain that kept growing as he spoke his thoughts out against Sanji's temple, so intense he thought he would choke.

Sanji was chuckling. Or trying to control his sobs, he didn't know. Maybe both. Probably both.

Zoro squeezed Sanji even tighter, an inexplicable need to have him closer getting over him like a tsunami.

"So stop being a stupid idiot about this," he muttered, jaw clenched, voice beginning to tremble with something he couldn't name. "Let it all out as much as you want now, but when you walk back to the ship…"

Sanji felt his breath suddenly catching in his lungs, his chest and stomach filled with something fairly similar to violent anxiety and... what? He couldn't quite pinpoint it.

Zoro inhaled deeply, closing his eyes as he felt something fundamental slide out of his chest along with his words.

"When we go back to the ship… just… please, come back, Sanji."

The tears he had managed to fight away came back to his eyes. Sanji harshly pushed himself away from Zoro's hold, trying to regain some composure and calm his heart or whatever was acting like a hammer in his chest; which he _needed_ to do away from Zoro. Zoro's hands grew a brain of their own when they darted to grasp Sanji's arms to keep him from getting away, and their faces froze inches away from each other's, their eyes glued to the other's with a slight injection of shock.

And there it was. It was that familiar electricity burning in between them, just like when they fought and challenged each other, just that this time there was something different in it. It was definitely more _intense_. It was hotter. It was deeper. It burned their core. And it was at the brink of bursting.

Sanji saw the sudden fire in Zoro's gaze, one that screamed 'want', and maybe something else.

And shit, why the fuck did Sanji's eyes bottle the fucking ocean? Why the fuck did he want to-?

And their lips were on each other's.

* * *

**TBC**

* * *

**A/N: **And, finally, here we go.

P.s. (sorry for the cliffhanger, ups)


	16. Chapter 16 - The Deal

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* * *

...

**Chapter 16**

**The Deal**

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* * *

...

They lost their minds.

As his lips registered the contact with Zoro's, his hands flew to grab green strands, pulling them aggressively, trying by all means to get more contact and earn dominance.

A growl rumbled deep in Zoro's chest as he felt his head being pulled back, Sanji all over him. Which kind of annoyed him. He viciously bit on Sanji's lip and earned a gasp, then some space, then his lips were over Sanji's with painful friction as he took his revenge and yanked Sanji's head back, tangling his calloused fingers in silky blonde hair.

Sanji snarled against Zoro's predating lips, feeling a rush he couldn't quite explain take over his whole body and thoughts. It was hunger. Voracious _starvation_. And his hands went to both sides of Zoro's head as he tilted his neck to get a better angle and fought his way into the swordsman's mouth, tongues clashing inside as Zoro tried to fight Sanji's and dominate the kiss, which Sanji was making pretty difficult to achieve.

They kissed like they fought. It was raw, it was instinctive, it was a battle, it was like an aggressively coordinated dance in which they both gave and took, and their tongues suddenly felt like one.

Sanji bit hard on Zoro's lip when they parted to breathe, gasping. Which was also annoying because that was nowhere near enough. There was this frantic urge they tried to fight away with friction and contact, with passion and snarls, but it still wasn't enough. Zoro groaned when Sanji pulled his lower lip, which he had just bitten with his teeth, looking at him in the eye with that familiar competitive spark shining in his blue orbs, only accentuated by the remnants of tears that had been there and still marked his blood-stained cheeks. Zoro didn't waste time and attacked the retreating mouth with a feral grunt.

And their lips were on each other's again, and breathing had become a burden they didn't have time to take care of, because, fuck, this was hot, and there was that damn frantic _need_ they couldn't possibly scratch as much as their movements turned raw and aggressive, yet synchronized like a dance. Synchronized like pretty much everything they did together. Sanji threw his arms over Zoro's shoulders and held him tighter, closer to him, feeling his abs and muscles against his own twitching ones. Zoro tangled his fingers in Sanji's hair yet again, then one of his hands caught Sanji's jaw and forcefully tilted his head to slide his tongue inside Sanji's awaiting mouth. Which hid an equally awaiting tongue ready to make Zoro's need for dominance frustratingly futile.

Zoro growled in annoyance and snatched Sanji's arms away, earning a surprised gasp and the opportunity to throw Sanji against the floor with a hard thump and a painful groan from the blonde. Zoro instantaneously crawled over him, grabbing his jaw again and forcing Sanji to face him as his teeth bit their path inside Sanji's mouth. He was surprised when Sanji didn't fight him away and let him take the lead. Which obviously didn't last more than two seconds as Sanji took advantage of his pleasant surprise and flipped them over with a push and a perfectly executed kick that had him straddling Zoro in the blink of an eye. His hands pushed Zoro's shoulders back when the other tried to stand, and Zoro's head painfully hit the floor. He gasped and next thing he knew Sanji's tongue was inside his mouth and everything became Sanji. The smell and taste of cigarettes and spices flooded his senses like a tsunami. He closed his eyes as he enclosed Sanji's back in his arms and yanked him closer to him, breathing hard through his nose against Sanji's skin as he finally surrendered and let Sanji do what the royal fuck he wanted because, damn, that just felt fucking good and he needed the friction and the hotness of Sanji's tongue and lips and, fuck, Sanji _could_ kiss.

Sanji grabbed Zoro's neck with his open palm and forced him to concede a better angle, deepening the kiss even more, their breaths meddled and their tongues melting together inside Zoro's hot mouth with a tinge of desperation.

But it _still_ wasn't enough.

Zoro pushed Sanji's face away from his when he thought he was going to die asphyxiated and they both panted hard inches away from the other's face. Sanji watched Zoro's expression as the bastard tried to regain his breath, eyes closed, fierce blush, green strands plastered on his sweaty forehead. And the _need_ and urge came as a damn unstoppable flood.

"_Fuck,_" he groaned with a snarl.

His lips were suddenly on Zoro's neck, devouring every inch of flesh they found, and Zoro gasped and twitched in surprise, which Sanji swore was the hottest sound he had ever heard. His mouth travelled until he found Zoro's ear shell, and then his tongue was playing with Zoro's earrings, Zoro's breath coming out ragged as he closed his eyes tight and let Sanji work his magic. Until he sucked on his earrings.

Zoro's hands frantically travelled over Sanji's body, trying to find purchase somewhere, trying to get the feeling of everything that lean body had to offer under his suit, and it was Sanji's turn to gasp, which made Zoro smirk triumphantly against Sanji's sweaty neck.

And, _damn_, they were damn hard.

At some point his hands landed on Sanji's ass. And, fuck, _that_ was a royal ass, he swore. Which he would have been more than happy to thoroughly explore and grope if Sanji hadn't suddenly yelped and scrambled to his feet and away from him as if he had caught fire, his face quickly changing the heated expression he wore to a horrified one as realization dawned on him.

"_Fuck!_" he let out with horror filling his wide eyes as he looked at Zoro in disbelief.

Zoro sent him a glare that clearly stated he didn't get shit, and was about to tell the blonde he looked like a fucking idiot when realization hit him like a hammer. And his expression matched Sanji's like a mirror.

"_Fuck!_" he yelped as he also stumbled to his feet.

Just as Zoro managed to stand up, Sanji fell on his ass with the same expression he would have worn if Death had knocked at his door with a polite invitation to hell, his hands slowly tangling in his own hair.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, nonononono, _shit_, _no_!"

Zoro's hands went to his face in utter despair. "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!"

And fucked they were. They had just _kissed_.

What.

The.

Fuck.

_No way._

No fucking way in hell.

All coherent thoughts escaped their brains.

"_What the fuck!_" Sanji screeched as he finally sent an accusing glare towards Zoro's covered face.

Zoro didn't answer, he was too busy exploiting the word "fuck" and its more elaborated version "fucking fuck".

"Oi, you shitty marimo, I'm talking to you! Why the fuck did you go and kiss me, you bastard!"

Zoro glared at him through his fingers in disbelief, then his hands abandoned his face and his expression grew outraged.

"What the fuck! It wasn't me, shit cook, get your facts straight, it was _you_ who just fucking went and kissed me!"

"No fucking way, you deluded bastard! _You_ started!" Sanji yelled back, getting to his feet and pointing at him with an outraged finger matching Zoro's expression.

"No, I didn't! Why the fuck would I want to kiss a bastard like yourself?!" Zoro reasoned at the brink of hysterics.

Sanji wasn't in a better condition. Next thing he said his voice almost came like a high-pitched shriek.

"Well, _I don't know_, ask your fucking boner!"

Whatever Zoro was about to reply died in his mouth as he followed the direction Sanji's finger pointed at. And, well, he _was_ rock hard. He stared at his own tent with betrayal painted in his glare, horror slowly joining in.

"See?! You fucking started!"

Zoro looked at Sanji at loss for words, and then his gaze travelled to Sanji's… _oh_. His finger pointed at Sanji's own boner with a deadpan expression. Sanji's gaze followed it and his face turned blank as he realized he was rock hard as well.

They looked at each other.

"Let's call it a draw."

They nodded at each other, reaching a silent agreement. Then Sanji's expression changed back to outraged again.

"You still _groped_ my ass! What the fuck was that?!"

Zoro blinked at him. Not only had they kissed; no, it was worse, he had gone and _groped_ the cook's ass. For real. Which would be a huge deal less disturbing if his brain wasn't currently smirking at him as it reminded him of what a wonderful ass Sanji had. Well, _that_ was a problem. He suddenly noticed he was frantically wiping his own hands with his haramaki.

"Aren't you going to say _something_?" Sanji groaned with a snarl.

"Well, what the hell do you want me to say?! I _did_ touch your fucking ass, there's not much to comment here!" Zoro burst with a mortified glare.

"Don't you _dare_ put 'fucking' and 'ass' together in a phrase in front of me ever again, dammit!"

"This is getting stupid."

"It's definitely stupid. And that's why it never happened."

And Zoro swore that statement could have been sung by a gospel choir of angels descending from Heaven. He felt a weird weight being lifted off his shoulders as the words left Sanji's sassy (and talented, _oops_) mouth.

"Never happened," he repeated, business expression reigning his face.

"Never happened and will never happen again," Sanji confirmed, deep glare directed at Zoro in case the bastard dared present objections.

"We are not even going to mention it or spare it a thought," Zoro resumed.

"Mention what?"

Zoro smirked as he saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

"Deal," he nodded. He extended his hand for Sanji to shake. Sanji simply looked at it with a disgusted frown. Zoro could tell the blonde had his sassy mode on.

"I'm not going to shake the hand that has just groped my ass."

Zoro rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"What the fuck, cook! We just agreed we wouldn't mention it again, damn it!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Deal. No need to shake hands," Sanji growled as he massaged the bridge of his nose.

How the fuck had they managed to get to the point where they needed to have this conversation? Seriously now, there had to be some kind of fundamental brain cell that had decided to commit mutiny and die simultaneously in their brains. There was no other explanation. Like, no way.

What the fuck.

Sanji had never felt this inclined to happily throw himself off a cliff and drown in the depths of the ocean, and Zoro was seriously considering cutting his hands off, or better, commit seppuku right there and then and never have to face the cook again.

How had that happened? Last time Sanji checked, he was pretty sure he was the straightest man there was on Earth, and he had always assumed Zoro was asexual, at most straight and admirably restrained.

Zoro wasn't even questioning his sexuality, the only coherent thoughts in his brain kept switching from 'why' and 'what the fuck' to 'seppuku is a good and respectable option'.

But they had reached a deal, hadn't they? If they stuck to their promise and pretended it had never happened it should be okay, shouldn't it? Just that Zoro's hands kept twitching in need for contact and kept reminding him of how great Sanji's ass was, and Sanji's lips were swollen and begging for more. Oh, and they were both hard rock as they spoke. No big deal. Which was uncomfortable and embarrassing and mortifying and _whythefuckdidthishavetohappendammit_!

Sanji made a mental list of his current problems and, _yes_, just as he thought, they kept growing. Great. Now what? They had to share the same space and life on board of the Sunny and they weren't getting time alone any time soon, so, really, what the fuck were they supposed to do now? Agreeing to go back to normal was a piece of cake to say, but Sanji knew that when he'd have to forcefully see Zoro during meals (which for now were about to be non-existent, _great_, real great) it would be weird and uncomfortable and, damn, they didn't really need this shit; what kind of satanic urge had possessed them to do something as utterly stupid as to just go and fucking _kiss_?!

Sanji groaned. He needed out. He really needed to disappear for a while and quietly wonder what the fuck was with his life.

"Okay, shit, now what?" he muttered, trying to remain as composed as he could.

Zoro descended from wherever his brain had gone to find refuge in and looked at the cook with a lost expression. Well, that was a damn good question. Which he didn't have an answer for.

"I don't know…"

"What do you mean you don't know?" Sanji growled. That had to be the most humiliating and uncomfortable moment of his life.

"Well, what do you want to do? Walk back to the ship sporting _this _for everyone to see?" Zoro inquired as he pointed at their matching boners with an annoyed frown. Well, walking back to the ship had been the initial plan once Sanji had calmed down, but now it just wasn't their best option if they intended on keeping that accident a forgotten secret.

Sanji dedicated him his most perfected deadpan expression, trying for his dear life not to turn red in embarrassment. "You tell me, bastard."

"I guess that's not an option, then" Zoro replied with a healthy dose of pissed-off sarcasm.

"You guess just right."

"Okay, then what?"

"That's what I was fucking asking."

Zoro sighed and massaged his face, trying to get rid of the nervousness and stress. Which were huge and currently bruning down his wits.

"I don't know, cook."

Sanji sighed as well and ran a hand down his open mouth, feeling frustrated and _cornered_ as fuck. He let his gaze travel to the horizon, trying to calm himself down. Not only was he unwillingly aroused and sporting the proof of it, he was at the verge of getting his brain cells fried with stress, which wasn't a great combination, much less after having had an emotional breakdown of the magnitude he had just experienced.

"Why don't you come up with one of your brilliant ideas?" Zoro asked with an annoyed grunt.

"I don't have any."

"Great, just great, you are supposed to be so witty and whatnot but, when it's really needed, you've got nothing!" Zoro huffed.

Sanji sent him a hard and hurt glare.

"I swear if you don't shut the fuck up I'm going to break your shitty big mouth," he growled.

Shitty big _and_ talented mouth, his brain helpfully jumped in. Thanks. Just what he needed.

"Ugh, sorry about that," Zoro apologized without looking at him in the eye. Fuck. He should watch his mouth. He had come here to get Sanji back and comfort him, and he wasn't exactly doing that right now. To be frank, he didn't know what he was doing at all.

He risked a glance at Sanji and saw him looking at the ocean with a lost expression. They had just greatly fucked up and now they didn't know what to act like about it. Just what they needed in the new unstable step their relationship had just taken a few minutes ago when they had gone from almost killing each other to Sanji crying his worries out in Zoro's shoulder as he hugged him for dear life. Zoro could still clearly see the marks the tears had drawn across Sanji's blood and dust-covered cheeks, and he knew Sanji was nowhere near stable yet. It would have been weird and maybe uncomfortable but still great if it had been left at that. But no, their brains had to go, commit mutiny and make them kiss like there was no tomorrow. Thank goodness they had come back to their senses before actually doing anything else. Because God knows they hadn't been thinking of stopping before their brains clicked back to normal.

Sanji's lips were swollen and half open. Zoro found himself staring at them for too long and toying with the idea of kissing them again. He groaned and tightly closed his eyes, trying to get the need out of his body.

"Mmmh, Marimo, I've got it," Sanji suddenly said.

Zoro's head snapped up and he forced his one good eye to look at the blonde's eyes instead of at his inviting lips. Fuck, he wanted to kiss them. There was this nagging feeling at the pit of his stomach that urged him to close the distance between them and smash his own lips on Sanji's and hold him tight again.

"What?" he groaned.

His eyes inevitably fell back to Sanji's lips when they parted to speak. Fuck, the way he slightly ran his tongue over them before speaking should be illegal. Fuck, he really wanted to-

"Picture Franky and Usopp wearing a thigh leopard thong and doing some sexy dance together on your lap."

Zoro snorted and his brain almost short-circuited as he fell into horrified a half coughing and choking, half laughing fit.

"What the actual fuck!" he managed as he tried to erase the image from his head before his sanity was permanently damaged. Oh, shit, now he was going to have nightmares about this.

When his eye half opened again and he looked up with a mortified expression, he found Sanji watching him with a small smirk that looked quite amused but slightly out of place in the blonde's swollen post-crying/kissing face.

"You are a bastard."

"Is it better now?" Sanji asked as if he hadn't just managed to murder Zoro's libido forever.

Zoro gave an intent look at his crotch, his tent mostly gone.

"Yes, genius, it's definitely gone. _Forever_," Zoro growled with a threatening glare.

Sanji's smirk evolved to a full blown shitty grin.

"Great, then."

"Bastard curlybrow."

"Shitty marimo."

"Dartbrow."

"Shitty swordsman."

"Embarrassing nosebleed idiot."

"Hey, what about Usopp wearing a leather thong and a-?"

"Fuck you."

Sanji snickered and stood up, trying to appear calm. It was better now, but he still felt nervous and uncomfortable as hell, his chest bubbling with a mix of the aftermath of crying like a baby after absolutely breaking down and kissing Zoro like his life depended on it. At least their small (not that small) southern problems were gone now, which was kind of reassuring.

"Hey, let's go back to the ship, shall we?" Sanji suggested, awkwardly scratching the back of his head. Yeah, the ship sounded just like a great idea. Better indeed than staying on the top of that shitty island alone with the marimo he had just kissed with. He was actually making a huge effort not to just run away from there and escape that shitty compromised situation they had gotten themselves into.

"Yes, let's go."

When Zoro made the first step, he stumbled in pain. Shit, the cook had managed to break some of his ribs. Great.

Sanji had his own problems with walking as well; more than one rib had to be broken for sure, and the cut Zoro had managed to land on his abs, and specially the one on his leg kept stretching and pulling at his skin as he walked, which was kind of annoying and painful. And, damn, it was bleeding hard.

None of them made it to help the other, though, they'd rather avoid as much physical contact as possible. Hell, that was awkward and uncomfortable as fuck.

"You know, you are a bastard," Sanji growled in order to fill the now tense silence between them.

Ugh, that was just weird. If only they could go back in time and erase that fucking moment out of their lives. Now his mind kept replaying the scene as he walked not that far away from the man who filled his current shitty traitorous thoughts.

"Says the king of bastards," Zoro groaned back.

"You didn't need to try to kill me. You almost cut my head off."

"Such a shame I didn't finish the job."

"You can go fuck yourself. Try this shit again and it'll be me who'll kick your head off your shoulders."

"I'd love to see you try, shit cook."

There was that shitty silence again and Zoro swore he'd die asphyxiated by it if they didn't manage to swipe that tension away or just get away from each other's presence soon.

"And why the fuck are you heading left, you directionally challenged algae head?" Sanji suddenly snapped.

Zoro stopped in his tracks with a scowl. Then he realized Sanji wasn't in front of him, and he swore he had been following the bastard's steps. He turned his head right and saw Sanji with his hands in his pockets and a deadpan expression on his face staring back at him.

"Shut it."

"I'm surprised you haven't lost your head yet," Sanji groaned as he led the way again. He balled his fists in his pockets, trying to stop them from trembling. Everything in him was _barely_ in place, the remnants of his sanity keeping it all together. Thanks fuck he had exploded and let it all out right before that shitty mistake had happened between them. If he hadn't, he was sure he might be having a stroke or something now.

"If you don't want to lose yours for real you better shut your trap, shit cook," Zoro growled. He was annoyed. Everything annoyed him now. Because he was definitely _not_ looking at Sanji's ass and berating himself for it. Leave it to the cook to become Zoro's biggest headache 24/7. Just when he thought he had managed to fix Sanji so that everything would go back to normal and Zoro could get some peace of mind, they had to go and fuck things up in the cruelest and most idiotic plot twist of the fucking century.

At some point he saw the edge of the cliff they had climbed, and some steps later he saw the ship anchored by the rocky shore. Just when they reached the edge, Sanji stopped and turned to look at him with a weird expression that kind of reminded him of an anxious one, his figure framed by the orangey golden rays of the setting sun at his back. There was no obvious trace of tears in his face anymore; Sanji had probably made sure there wasn't any by wiping them away as they made their way back. He had managed to smudge dirt and blood together in a messy combination but, unless you _really_ focused on his eyes, which were still puffy and red, there was no telling he had cried the desperate way he had. Maybe the remaining hitches in his breath every few deep inhales, traces that his chest was still feeling the aftermath of him pouring out his sorrows at full force. But there was nothing particularly obvious betraying him, at least.

"What?"

"Uhm… Never happened, right?"

Zoro blinked and stared at him for a while before sighing and shaking his head as reassuringly as he could.

"Never happened."

"Not a word."

"Not a word," Zoro confirmed. He watched Sanji's features relax a bit.

"Things are going to go back to normal, right?"

Zoro looked at him and hesitated. Sanji's eyes were still anxious and his hands fidgeted in his pockets as he waited for another confirmation. Zoro's stare hardened.

"As long as you go back to normal as well."

It was Sanji's turn to blink at Zoro, the swordsman's words reminding him of why they had ended up fighting on the top of that damned rock to start with. Reminding him of how Zoro had embraced him and tried by all means to get him out of that self-despising well he had dug for himself. The thought made his exhausted chest swell uncomfortably.

"Are you coming back, cook?" Zoro insisted with a tough tone that didn't take 'no' for an answer.

Sanji was tempted to smile but his newest worries and anxiousness prevented him from doing so. His stomach was currently twisted in a knot as he kept wishing the kiss had never happened, as he kept wishing things would _really_ go back to normal, because he didn't need the headache the consequences of that kiss meant.

"Yes, I'm coming back," he confirmed with a more or less stable nod.

Zoro nodded back. "Good. Then, yes, things are going back to normal; we are going to forget about this. It never happened."

"Won't happen again."

"No."

"Great. See you in the ship, then."

Zoro looked at him in wonder and then Sanji kicked his way down through the air, getting to the shore in five seconds as Zoro watched his retreating back with a pissed-off scowl. Shit, those rocks were a bitch to climb and descend from. Not for Sanji, who could do that damn sky-walk thing, but for Zoro and his broken ribs it would indeed be quite inconvenient. He watched as Sanji climbed up the ship and Chopper appeared on deck, gesturing like mad and probably screaming bloody hell at Sanji for being an idiot as he rushed him to the infirmary. Zoro couldn't help but notice Sanji's slight limping even when he tried to keep his back straight and his steps stable, leaving thick stains of blood behind him.

"Bastard," Zoro muttered.

* * *

"You two are idiots! Don't you know the meaning of moderation, damn it all?!" Chopper yelled as he stomped through the infirmary gathering whatever he needed in order to do his job.

Sanji looked at the little reindeer with a blank and rather bored expression. Chopper finally came back to him and wrapped his now stitched up abdomen with clean bandages, not bothering on being careful and using far too much strength for it not to hurt. Sanji didn't complain, it was the same as always. His eyes were glued on some spot in the reindeer's hooves, definitely _not_ avoiding gazing at Zoro's figure sitting at the other side of the infirmary and waiting for his turn to be patched up.

"This time you went too far, dammit! Why don't you think of me when you do this kind of stupid things!? You've got broken ribs and cuts everywhere, and your face is a damn map, Sanji! Zoro, look at what you've done to his face, for God's sake, he's lucky you didn't break his jaw! And you cut him pretty deep, did you want to kill him or what?!" Chopper scolded with an unfamiliar snarl tinting his features. He sent a venomous glare at Zoro, who was blatantly ignoring his rant with his eye fixed on the interesting ceiling above him and his arms crossed over his chest. Chopper went back to fixing Sanji, and when he finished he slapped his bandaged head with more strength than necessary.

"Done."

"Sorry about that, doctor," Sanji apologized without really meaning it as he massaged his scalp. It really did hurt. He had needed stitches there as well.

"I want you to rest, Sanji, _rest_!" Chopper warned with a scowl. "I don't want another damn fight or it will be me who'll put you back in the infirmary with more broken bones than you've ever had in your life!"

"Come on, Chopper, it was him who started, you _saw it_!" Sanji half-assedly defended for the sake of tradition but also because he was a tiny bit outraged that he was getting the same shit as Zoro, who had been the one who had initially tried to kill him for real.

Zoro growled from where he was, but didn't look at him. Sanji hadn't either.

"That's because you are an idiot," he grunted.

"Shut up, you two! I don't give a damn about who started! You are _both_ idiots, so you are both at fault!" Chopper cut in with a scowl that kept the duo silent, both of them looking at their doctor with no-shit expressions. "Now, Sanji, leave the damn infirmary and behave!"

Sanji rolled his eyes and stood up, limping a bit and ready to leave the room. His eyes didn't travel back to Zoro. They hadn't since Zoro had joined him in there. Neither had Zoro looked at him once. They had basically ignored each other, asides from the reglamentary banter.

"Damn, Sanji, you have burned him pretty bad!" Chopper yelled when he got by Zoro's side and uncovered his chest and abdomen. The little doctor was seriously angry. Just like every time they fought and overdid it.

"He wishes," Zoro grunted as he let Chopper inspect him. "It's not that bad."

"Shut up! It is! Damn, Sanji! Ugh, fuck it, you are both stupid idiots!"

Oh, well, their doctor was furious.

Sanji turned to them when he got to the door and found Chopper giving him an accusing look and then an equally accusing one at Zoro. He couldn't control his eyes when they travelled to Zoro's burned chest and then to his open eye. Yes, he had burned him pretty bad. And broken a few ribs. His heart halted when Zoro lifted his gaze and their eyes met for a split second. Then Zoro snapped his head to the side and fixed a glare on some of Chopper's paper work on his desk. Sanji looked straight at his feet and then turned to leave faster than he had intended, closing the door with a careful thump behind him.

He was surprised when he passed by his captain and was stopped by him.

"So, how are you feeling, Sanji?" Luffy asked with a grin. He had placed his hand on Sanji's elbow so that their chef couldn't run away. Which he didn't. Sanji knew an implicit order when he felt one.

"I'm all patched up, Luffy. I'm fine," Sanji reassured him. Then he gathered the remnants of his trademark cocky attitude and smirked at him. "You should worry more about the marimo there, I've beaten him up pretty bad this time."

Luffy snickered at that. It was weird how their fights had always managed to amuse him as if there was some kind of inside joke in them nobody understood but him.

"Uhm, sorry about the scene we made, I guess," Sanji apologized when he realized Luffy's hand hadn't left his elbow yet.

"Nah, it wasn't that bad. I bet Franky is grateful you had the mind to get the fight out of the ship, Sanji. Zoro looked about ready to break things," Luffy laughed.

Sanji gave him a small smile and nodded, wondering what kept Luffy holding him back and small-talking to him about something that wasn't food. He had expected him either not giving a flying fuck _or_ totally irked and ready to scold them with his no-shit mode on.

"I'm going back to the kitchen to do some meal planning," Sanji said in hopes Luffy would let go and let him get some rest. Because not only did he feel anxious as fuck, he felt totally exhausted and in need of a good sleep that cleared his ideas. And he did have to do some meal planning if he wanted what food was left to last a bit longer. And they had almost nothing. The thought made Sanji want to whine in desperation.

"Okay, that sounds good!" Luffy grinned.

Sanji smiled at him. Luffy still hadn't let go. He waited patiently for his captain to say whatever he had to, his foot traitorously tapping the floor as he looked at the raven haired boy's casual expression.

"So…"

"What, Luffy?" he rushed him with both of his eyebrows raised.

"Are you back, then?"

Sanji stared down at him. There was that serious look in his deceivingly still smiling eyes.

Sanji rolled his eyes. "What kind of question is that, Luffy? Am I not here in front of you?"

Luffy's indecipherable gaze inspected him, grin still in place. But Sanji knew he was dead serious and studying him. He raised a skeptical eyebrow at his captain.

"Of course I'm back, somebody had to lead that directionally challenged bastard back to the ship."

Luffy stared at him for a few more moments. At some point, his frozen grin broke into a bright one that lighted his whole face up.

"Great!" his hand left his elbow and slapped his shoulder as he laughed his trademark laugh, making Sanji's teeth cringe in pain because he was fucking injured, if Luffy hadn't noticed, but the gesture still made him feel back home. "Go do that meal plan. I have to let you know, you are doing a great job with it, by the way!"

Sanji found his mouth smiling despite himself. "Thanks, captain."

"Okay, I'm going to see Zoro now!" he proclaimed as he stomped away with a grin. Sanji watched him go and headed to the galley, his worries and anxiousness slowly filling his swollen chest again.

* * *

Zoro looked at Luffy when he entered the infirmary and acknowledged his presence. He watched as Luffy sat down on a chair and then his gaze went back to what Chopper was doing to his body. When he was all patched up and Chopper had scolded him enough, Luffy asked the reindeer to leave them alone for a moment. Zoro sighed when Chopper nodded and left in a pissed off whirlwind, swearing for his life that he'd tie Zoro down to the infirmary bed if he didn't behave and obey the doctor's orders.

He knew Luffy would come to him, but he still didn't feel like talking about whatever his captain was about to ask or comment.

"Hey, Zoro, let's talk!" Luffy offered with a grin.

Zoro restrained another sigh and shrugged to let him know he was listening.

"What did you do?"

Zoro froze in place, his brain jumping into conclusions at a speed he hadn't believed it capable of before.

"What do you mean?" he asked tensely, avoiding eye contact. Did he know about the kiss? Shit, no, please, _no_.

"You know what I mean," Luffy wore his 'I know that you know' expression and Zoro started to freak out.

"No," he replied, his voice strained. Please, don't let it be the kiss.

Luffy huffed but then smiled as he crossed his arms over his chest and looked at Zoro with his usually cheerful expression.

"Whatever. You did a great job with Sanji, whatever you did," he announced with a proud grin. "I believe he's back."

Zoro blinked at him, his expression slowly relaxing and his chest filling with something weird, a mixture of anxiousness and relief. And something warm. He shrugged, trying to get away of that conversation. Talking about Sanji was doing weird things to him.

"He just needed a good beat up."

Luffy laughed in his seat.

"Well, he did retaliate. You are quite beaten up as well. That burn Chopper just covered looked nasty," he chuckled with a mocking smirk.

"Shut up," Zoro growled. "Are we done?"

Luffy laughed again and waved at him as if he was a fly. "Yeah, yeah, sure, you can go and take a nap or do whatever you want, you deserve it. Good job."

Zoro grunted and stood up with certain difficulty, his ribs reminding him of the fact that they were hurting.

"Just try not to start a fight like this in the ship next time. You are lucky Sanji had the mind to get both of you out of here before you broke anything, or else Franky would have you hanging from your toes now."

The swordsman turned to glare at Luffy, an outraged expression on his face.

"Why am I hearing this from _you_, _captain_?"

A series of images of Luffy breaking the ship in the most stupid ways possible flew through his head as his scowl grew deeper. Luffy laughed and waved him away, innocent expression on.

"Just make sure you are more careful next time. Great job, anyways."

Zoro rolled his eyes for good measure and wondered why the fuck he followed orders from that idiot.

* * *

"Woah, bro, sorry, I didn't know you were sleeping!"

Sanji lifted his head from between his arms with bleary eyes. Shit, he had fallen asleep on his notebook in the galley and hadn't done anything resembling a meal plan yet. Not that there was much to work with anyway. Franky was standing by the open door, wearing a worried expression. He had come down to tell Sanji that his watch had finished and so Sanji's started, but he had found him sleeping like a baby.

"Oi, bro, if you need to sleep I can cover your turn, really," Franky offered when he noticed Sanji's exhausted expression.

"Uh, no, no, it's fine. Thank you for letting me know. I just fell asleep and lost track of time," Sanji replied as he got up and stumbled to the door, fighting his eyes open.

"You sure?"

"Of course I am! Just go to sleep, Franky."

Sanji patted Franky's back and walked past him to the crow's nest with his notebook under his arm and a pen balancing behind his ear. He tried to keep his eyes open and inhaled the chilly breeze of the night, wishing Franky good night and climbing up the watch spot.

He sat down and covered himself with a blanket, letting his head rest against the wall. He had managed to deeply fall asleep for the first time in days but now anxiousness was coming back to his organism as he replayed his day in his head. A snarl ended up forming in his face, which he hid in his hands.

"Fuck," he muttered.

They had royally fucked up.

What now? Sharing the same space in the infirmary had been hell to endure, the tension was unbearable, the unspeakable reality of what they had done filling the room like a weight. Now Sanji was quite sure they wouldn't be able to go back to normal. He couldn't look at Zoro in the eye without remembering his hot lips on his, which was a problem, because the conclusion he kept on reaching was that he had liked it. He had craved it and he kind of craved it now when he let the memory play for too long in his head. Because, damn, Zoro _could_ kiss. Sanji swore again against his hands.

Why did this have to happen? It should have never happened. Ever. It was a mistake and he knew it. What surprisingly troubled him the most was not the fact that they were both guys, which he had always thought would be what would kill him with shame and horror if it ever happened, but the fact that it was _Zoro_. His rival. The guy whose guts he had always claimed to hate, the one his pride clashed against on a daily basis… The same man who had embraced him when Sanji had broken down that evening.

Sanji's brain travelled to that moment without him wanting it. The way Zoro's arms had enclosed him tight, the way he had squeezed the pain out of him and turned it into tears that had started to clean him from the inside. What stunned him the most, what made his heart twist at its memory, was how Zoro had hid Sanji's face in his shoulder so that nobody could see, so that Sanji's pride wouldn't break when everything inside him was doing so. Because he understood him the best, because he knew just what Sanji needed even when Sanji refused to have it given to him. Zoro had supported him when Sanji had crumbled, holding him tight so that he wouldn't fall, he had been the pillar Sanji had never thought he'd need.

He had felt at home. He had felt that everything would get better.

His mind kept nagging him about the fact that Nami had still gotten hurt because of his conviction of never hurting a woman, unable to fight an evil one when a loved one had needed it. It kept troubling him and making him feel like shit. It kept bugging his insides as if something, namely guilt, was punching them. And he kept getting frustrated at how he couldn't stop the crew from going hungry when he had always claimed nobody went hungry on that ship. A promise he wasn't able to keep now.

He groaned.

But then there were Zoro's words and how he felt Zoro was partially right about the whole thing, how those words had managed to take a shit load of guilt off of his shoulders so that he wouldn't get crushed by it but rather feel only nagged when he thought about the situation they were in. It's not like it had disappeared from his head, Sanji was one to blame it on himself when he considered it was his fault and he still couldn't quite erase that thought from his head, but at least it wasn't torturing him. At least he had gotten the tension out of his body, which had caused a wave of relieve to wash through him and clean his clouded and stressed brain a bit.

And, well, now he had another huge problem troubling his thoughts that left the others temporarily shadowed.

He had fucking _kissed_ Zoro. And there was no getting around it.

That thought clouded his other problems and made him wonder why the fuck karma had thought he hadn't been tortured enough yet. Worse than kissing was the fact that he had liked it. Which he shouldn't have. But, come on, if he was totally sincere, he had been ready to either fuck or be fucked right there and then, which was a mortifying thought that was currently making him reconsider the idea of throwing himself of a cliff as a great way out because, _no way_, not with Zoro.

Sanji sighed hard and buried his head in between his crossed arms, wishing he could just forget the accident. Things would be a hell of a lot easier. His current problems would be reduced to a decreasing case of guilt and the real lack of food they were going through, which, hopefully, was provisional. If he thought about it like this, it didn't actually sound _that_ bad, not when Zoro had managed to make him feel better that evening. Now he had to add the mental turmoil that meant dealing with the consequences of that kiss with the last person he had ever thought he'd kiss on Earth because it had never even been a possibility in his head. Because it was Roronoa Zoro, and he was Blackleg Sanji, and it should have _never_ happened. And now they had to live together in the same claustrophobic ship pretending nothing had happened while feeling an unbearable tension choking them whenever they were in the same room.

Fantastic. If Zoro had wanted to distract him from his problems he had done a damn good job of it. Now he had new one to pour his attention and paranoia in.

Sanji groaned in despair and lifted his head, forcing himself to concentrate on something else that wasn't the kiss he had actually liked. The kiss that should never happen again. The meal plan, that's it. Concentrate on the meal plan.

His brain was put to work as his hand scribbled ideas here and there. The lack of food to work with, almost nonexistent now, was a big inconvenient and frustrated him to no end as he watched possibilities fly by.

But at some point he realized he wasn't half as tormented about the whole food thing as he had been the day before, even with their supplies being lower now. At some point he realized that the only wall his meal plan was finding in its way was the lack of food in itself. Not the frustration that had been numbing his brain during the previous days. Not the guilt that kept interfering and blocking his good ideas away. Just the physical problem in hand. The lack of food.

Simple as that.

* * *

Zoro didn't expect to find Sanji in the crow's nest when he climbed up there to start his watch. He had expected the cook to be gone before he went up there, he had expected him to avoid him. Which Zoro had tried to make easier by getting lost on his way to the crow's nest, getting there a little bit late. Because, well, he was also hoping to avoid Sanji.

But there he was, sat with a notebook on his knees, a frustrated scowl in his injured face as he kept scribbling things here and there. His uncovered eye sported a black bruise that kind of matched the inflammation in his nose and strong stubbly jaw. His profile was framed by the trembling light of a candle by his side and Zoro found himself staring at him for too long. Again.

Sanji hadn't sensed his presence as he was too concentrated in his work so, when Zoro cleared his throat, the blonde jumped in place with his eyes wide open and a shocked expression on his face. Which turned into a weird grimace when his glare fell on Zoro and recognized his green hair.

"The fuck are you doing here?!" he growled as he scrambled to his feet, putting some preventive distance in between them.

Zoro stared at him, trying to keep his own expression blank. _Of course_ it would be like this. It was bound to be like this. He himself wanted to take the inviting ladder and escape Sanji's presence, as immature as the urge was.

"My watch is starting now," he explained, his voice controlled even when he was feeling uncomfortable as fuck, nervousness getting over him again. Why was Sanji here again?

Sanji blinked at him in mild surprise.

"Oh, really?" and he sounded awkward as hell, his fingers fidgeting with the notebook in his hands. "I think I lost track of time, I'll… I'll just… I'll get going."

Zoro couldn't help it when his hand grabbed Sanji's bandaged wrist as he passed him by to get out of there faster than lightning. He had hurt his wrists pretty bad. He could see the bruise hinting itself by the bandages' edges. Sanji hissed in surprise and tried to get out of his grasp, but Zoro's hand kept him in place.

"What were you doing? You looked worried."

Sanji scowled at him. Zoro's touch burned. And Sanji's wrist burned under Zoro's touch, which made him want to let go before something stupid threatened to happen again, but he fought the urge. He could feel Sanji's discomfort through his pulse. He wanted to get away as much as Zoro.

"Not your business."

"What's in that notebook?" Zoro insisted.

Sanji managed to yank his wrist out of Zoro's squeezing hold and took two steps back to settle some firm space between them, using a glare to order Zoro not to cross the distance. Which he didn't. He didn't need any more broken bones.

"I'm trying to come up with a meal plan that'll last us three more days. At this rate we'll finish our supplies tomorrow night and we can't afford this. Just that there's not much I can do when our supplies are at minimum…"

Zoro watched as Sanji's expression went back to frustrated, an uncharacteristic scowl shadowing his features as soon as he voiced his thoughts out loud. Zoro was surprised he had told him. He had totally expected him to avoid him at all costs but, apparently, when it came to important business, Zoro had earned Sanji's trust. Zoro blinked at Sanji's now serious look. Sanji hadn't resisted to share the problem with Zoro, he hadn't kept it to himself. Even when the only thing they wanted to do was stay away from each other, Sanji was putting it aside and at least letting Zoro know what troubled him, because he apparently trusted him enough. Zoro restrained a smile. That was a good sign. Maybe his efforts hadn't been futile, maybe they hadn't fucked up that much…

Maybe things could get back to normal.

Zoro took a step forward to take a look at Sanji's notebook. Sanji took a step back with a warning glare.

Okay, maybe not.

The swordsman sighed and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his bandaged chest, trying not to create too much friction against the burn there so as not to hurt himself, and leveled a hard stare at Sanji's no-bullshit expression.

"What?" Sanji asked. He had always had a sharp instinct when it came to Zoro's actions. Of course he'd know Zoro was about to propose or comment something he wouldn't quite like.

"I've got an offer to make."

"Yeah, I got that much. Don't you think we've reached enough agreements for today, though?" Sanji replied with a skeptical look. Which clearly sent the message 'don't you dare bring up the kiss topic or else'.

"It's about that meal plan of yours," Zoro clarified. "Were you considering the fact that your rations are already smaller?"

Sanji sent him a suspicious glare. He didn't like the way Zoro was leading that conversation towards.

"Yes. What?"

"Well, cut mine smaller too. It will last longer then."

"No."

They looked at each other. Sanji's glare was threatening and definitely pissed off. Zoro's was exasperated and… well, pissed off as well. Last time he had suggested something like this had been a disaster, but he couldn't help himself from trying again.

"Oi, cook, don't be an asshole about this and listen to me," Zoro growled, trying to keep his stance calm. "It's not like I'll stop eating, there's not much we are eating anyway, it won't really make a difference. You are already eating less and you look scrawny as fuck but other than that you can still kick just fine, you just proved it today. Come on, if you can take it I can as well, we are both strong and we are only going to be doing this until Franky repairs the ship, it won't be long. Chopper, Nami or Usopp need it more than we do, you've seen Chopper. Cut our ration, we deal with it and the others get to eat for longer. You give yours to Nami and I give mine to Chopper, or whatever you want to do with it, but it's necessary and you know it. We've gone through worse. If someone can take it it's us, and you are already doing so, so let me do my part as well."

Sanji stared at him with a snarl. Zoro could tell he was restraining a kick. But he could also tell he was listening. He could also tell he was considering it.

"Come on, cook," Zoro insisted. He wanted to cross the distance between them, but kept himself in place. He didn't want a kick in the face. And his rational side didn't need to be near Sanji because he was already feeling that oppressing atmosphere between them. For the billionth time that day, the kiss scene popped in his mind. It had happened out of a tense situation and now they were damn _tense_. He fidgeted in his place, feeling uncomfortable as fuck. He restrained the new urge to take a step back and, again, kept himself in place.

Sanji was still staring at him without moving, keeping the notebook close to his chest. He was facing a similar dilemma as Zoro. On the one hand he wanted to kick Zoro in the face for being an idiot, on the other he was restraining himself from doing so. He was pretty aware that they had gotten to the kissing accident through fighting. A big-ass fight, true, but it still had happened when the adrenaline of the fight and a tense situation exploding had kicked in. He wasn't about to risk it again because he didn't know what to expect anymore. Something made him apprehensive of closing distances with the swordsman. Who knew when another brain cell would commit mutiny and betray him again? So he stayed in place and instead bore a hole in Zoro's forehead with a glare.

"Cook."

Zoro got him out of his musings and Sanji cringed his teeth. Shit. If just Zoro wasn't right. But he really didn't want to let him do something like this. It was _his_ job, not Zoro's.

"No," he answered. This time he didn't sound half as convinced. His heart and pride didn't let him accept the offer. It went against his morals. But his brain knew Zoro wasn't wrong. That part of him knew they needed it.

Zoro glared at him hard, a vein popping in his forehead as stress broke in and he totally lost his patience.

"Cook, for fuck's sake, this is fucking uncomfortable for both of us, can't you just say yes already so that I don't have to keep insisting and making this longer than it needs to be?!"

Sanji's scowl escalated to unreached levels. If looks could kill… That had been _low_. His restraint was put to test when kicking Zoro's face in became his utmost desire. He snarled. Balled his fists. Mentally murdered Zoro a thousand times with his glare. Then finally huffed and kicked the wall hard with frustration.

"Fine, whatever! Do whatever the fuck you want, you damn shitty swordsman! I'm out of here!"

Zoro raised an annoyed yet relieved eyebrow at him.

"Try to elaborate that meal plan of yours taking that into account," he grunted, letting himself plop to the floor to finally start his watch.

"No need to tell me what I have to do, it's my fucking job!" Sanji yelled as he left the room with an irked thump of the trap door and hordes of colorful swearing.

Zoro almost grinned. Almost. He was too preoccupied trying to calm his heart rate and trying to fight his annoyance away. What a stubborn bastard. Something inside him felt proud of said bastard, though. He closed his eyes to relax and fight a stupid grin out of his face. Sanji had let him help him. Again. He trusted him enough to do this with him. He wasn't carrying the burden alone anymore. Not only had he shared his worries with him, he had let him help him out. For real. Which made Zoro feel happy and somehow victorious. About time! Those were huge steps for Sanji, who was slowly opening up to him, letting him take part of one of the many things he kept doing for the crew on his own without ever asking for help.

By the time he realized it, he had been grinning like an idiot for a while. He slapped the smile away.

His joy didn't last for long as other thoughts loomed over him like a dark cloud. The kiss had really fucked things up and there was no denying it now. There had been that tension floating in the air again, there had been the weight of what they had promised to forget suspended between them, both making them want to close the distance in between them and making them want to enlarge it, making them want to escape the other. There had been that fear of what could possibly happen if they did this or that, a fear that had never existed between them before. A fear that now dominated their actions around the other and made it uncomfortable to look the other in the eye. Which had never happened before.

There was the fear of realizing that he had enjoyed that kiss more than he should have, and it came back whenever Sanji was around, making their interactions hell to endure. At least for Zoro.

No, things weren't going back to normal any time soon.

**TBC**

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**A/N:** Hey guys, here's another chapter! I really hope you enjoy it, please let me know what you think.

I want to thank you for all of your reviews, they pulled a smile in my face and made me really happy and excited as I read them, I'm really glad you are liking the story so far! See you in the next chapter!


	17. Chapter 17 - We'll Make It

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**Chapter 17**

**We'll Make It**

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* * *

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"Are Zoro and Sanji avoiding each other?" Nami asked with a frown as she watched them pass by each other's side without a word, both of them looking away with what they thought was discretion. She didn't fail to notice how Sanji's shoulder retreated a bit at the same time Zoro angled his body so that they wouldn't get to touch each other. It was the seventh time that day.

Robin looked at her and then at the distancing duo. Sanji entered the galley to get lunch ready and Zoro climbed up the crow's nest to get some training done. The scene had been filled with Franky's and Usopp's 'pangs' and 'clanks' here and there as they diligently worked on getting the ship repaired. Robin was fairly sure those two almost hadn't slept lately. They had no recent news about the ship's state, but she had seen them working almost at every hour of the day. The last few days they hadn't even shared the meals with them, instead Sanji would bring their rations to them wherever they were working. Every now and then they'd ask for a hand here and there and everyone would try to help as best as they could but, generally speaking, the work was Franky's and Usopp's. Her attention switched when she heard the crow's nest trap door clank and lost sight of Zoro.

"Looks like it," she answered.

Nami frowned deeper and then rolled her eyes.

"They are idiots."

Robin smiled. She hadn't ignored how Zoro's breakfast ration had been cut short and looked like Sanji's. Sanji looked tired, as if he hadn't really slept, and he definitely looked pissed off, especially when he murdered Zoro's dish with repeated death glares, but he surely looked slightly relieved and more… lively. At least compared to how he had looked like an automated zombie with bleary eyes before. He looked stressed and angry, but definitely not defeated anymore.

"Looks like our swordsman has done a great job, though," she commented.

Nami looked at her in wonder and then her eyes sparked in understanding as she nodded with a small smile. Her stomach grumbled hard, but neither of them commented on it or paid it any special attention. They both looked thinner and their stomachs had been grumbling for some days now, there wasn't anything new about this. That sound was almost the soundtrack to all of their conversations.

"But there's something going on between them now," she pointed out with something similar to concern in her dark eyes.

"Indeed."

"Well, they did fight hard yesterday," Nami reasoned.

Robin smirked.

"Are you worried about them?"

Nami almost glared at her with an outraged scowl.

"Of course not!"

Robin chuckled and Nami blushed.

"It's just that it's a bit weird… not hearing them yelling at each other every time they as much as look at the other."

"Uh, yeah, it's a little bit boring."

Nami yelped when Luffy appeared by her side, sat on the railing as if he had been there from the start. Robin just chuckled behind her hand.

"Luffy!" Nami screeched as she punched him in the head. "You scared me, dammit! Can't you appear like normal people do?!"

"Ouch."

"Good morning, captain," Robin smiled, amused. Nami would never understand what Robin found so amusing about their captain, but the older woman always seemed to be smiling or chuckling around him as if they shared a joke nobody else understood, not even Luffy, _especially_ not Luffy.

"They'll be fine, Nami, don't worry," Luffy reassured her as he grinned.

"I said I'm not worried!"

"They do balance each other's idiocy, just give them some time," Luffy continued, nodding all along and ignoring Nami's glare and protest words.

Robin snickered and then tuned down Nami's yelling and Luffy's 'shishishishi' laugh to put her attention on Chopper, who was sitting against a railing looking about to faint but keeping his mouth shut for good ever since the accident between Sanji and Zoro had taken place the day before, which he kept blaming on himself. Brook was by his side playing some upbeat tune and telling him a story about pirates that had Chopper smiling despite himself. Brook had always been one to know how to lighten the mood.

Robin smiled and tried not to wonder when they'd be able to get out of there, because she knew for sure they didn't have much time anymore.

* * *

Sanji couldn't look at Zoro's serving. He himself had prepared it, but he couldn't look at it when he served it to the damn swordsman he'd been ignoring all day. Because, if he did, there came this primal urge of shoving his own food down the bastard's throat. And, a) he didn't want to make a scene, and b) doing so would lead to a fight he didn't want to engage in for fear of what kind of reaction it would awaken in him. Last time it had been fucking _kissing_ his damn shitty rival, so nope, no need to check again.

So he didn't look at Zoro's serving when he shoved it in his personal space with a hard thump that earned Zoro's deep annoyed growl.

"Asshole," he grunted without looking at him.

"Bastard," Sanji retaliated without sparing him a look.

Then he finished serving and sat down. The rest of the meal was spent ignoring each other's presence and averting their gazes, absently growling insults at each other here and there when the situation and the sacred status quo they had promised to keep asked for it.

Luffy was talking bullshit just as always, Chopper and Brook laughed it off and Nami yelled at him to shut his trap. The only difference with their ordinary meals hanged in the air. Luffy's grin was half what it used to be, Brook's 'yohoho' laugh was cut shorter, Chopper's was weak and barely audible, and Nami's scolding was half-assed. Robin watched them with her trademark amused spark in her eyes, but if you looked at her with enough attention you could see severe dark bags under them, and her wrists too skinny for them to be hers. Usopp and Franky weren't there, they were having lunch outside as they worked, the 'clanks' that could be heard from the galley being their background music as they ate what little there was.

"Whose turn is it to wash dishes today?" Nami suddenly asked, giving a sad look at her empty plate. It had barely contained anything to start with. Some dried tomatoes and splintered dry bread.

Zoro froze in place as the question dawned on him. He held back a sigh as he raised an unwilling hand.

"Mine."

Sanji lifted his head and looked at him for the first time that meal. More like glared at him. But he didn't say a thing.

Nami looked at Sanji and studied his reaction as he fixed his eyes in his almost empty plate. He had mastered the ability of eating really slow so that the food would last him longer. A small trick he liked to play so that his brain wouldn't complain that much when his stomach growled. He had used it back in that hellish rock and he had started to use it again. Every time he heard Zoro gulp his almost nonexistent ration by his side he was seriously tempted to turn to him and tell him to eat slowly, but he kept himself from doing so. That would mean having to take a look at his serving and all of its unwanted consequences. Sanji wondered if he should do something to fix his bad temper. It had been worse lately.

When they all finished, everybody left the galley and Zoro bought himself some time by going to gather Usopp's and Franky's empty plates and bringing them back to the galley. Sanji had already started washing dishes and was being quite fast about it.

Zoro placed the cutlery and plates he had just brought on the countertop and took his usual spot by Sanji's side, ready to dry the dishes.

"You are dismissed, I can do this by myself," Sanji suddenly said without looking at him. "There's not much to wash anyways."

His tone sounded dull and his hands lowered the pace he was using to wash the dishes as he spoke. A curtain of blonde hair kept his face hidden from Zoro's disbelieving stare. The swordsman's hands slowly left the cloth he had just grabbed as his eye travelled to the wall in front of him, his jaw clenching in restraint.

And then he sighed. He had been about to obey and leave, he really had. He also wanted to get out of that oppressing galley they both felt trapped in together. But it just felt wrong.

"This doesn't really look like going back to normal, to be honest."

Sanji stopped his movements and stilled himself in a tense pose, his hands frozen midway in his motions.

"I don't exactly have anything against it, but is this how it is going to be like from now on? Just so that we are clear."

Sanji's gaze lifted and went to Zoro's mouth, his damn mouth, and then to his open eye. The bastard wasn't even looking at him while he spoke.

"What the hell do you want it to be like if you can't even look me in the eye when you are talking to me?" Sanji snapped.

This time, Zoro looked at Sanji straight in the eye and fought the urge to look elsewhere. It had never been this difficult.

"Is that a 'yes'?" Zoro's tone came out harder and bitter than he had intended. Running away right then and there sounded decidedly inviting, but he decided against it. He knew that wasn't what he wanted. That's why the whole damn situation felt just wrong.

"No, it's not a 'yes'", Sanji replied with a scowl. He was having trouble keeping his eyes glued to Zoro's instead of fixing them on the interesting spot in the wall in front of him, or the floor, or the ceiling, or wherever else. "Look, this is fucking difficult. It's damn uncomfortable, and I don't know about you, but I don't know where the fuck we are standing right now. Which kind of freaks me out. So we are _obviously_ not back to normal."

"Well, thanks for reading my fucking mind, but that's not what I-"

"But we promised. We agreed it would go back to normal somehow and I'm intending on keeping my word. That was the deal."

Zoro blinked at him and shut his mouth, surprised by the loop the conversation had just taken. That wasn't exactly what he had expected to hear judging from Sanji's evasive attitude. Not that his had been much better.

"So, no, that's not how I'm planning it to be like. That's how it is now, there's no denying it. But I'm going to stick to my promise and if you do the same and don't act like a coward, we are going to eventually make it change, or forget it, or whatever, but I'm not planning on giving myself a stroke every time I have to share a room with you, because we are destined to do just that for a long, long, _long_ time. Unless you want to quit. I know for sure I'm not leaving Luffy's side," Sanji continued.

Zoro's grip on the counter turned his knuckles white, all the strength in his body gathered there and leaving his mouth unable to come up with a reply.

"_But_, for now, it is fucking uncomfortable and I can't stand being around you as much as you can't stand being around me because it gets on my fucking nerves, so what about you do both of us a favour and get the hell out of here before one of us snaps for real?"

Zoro blinked at Sanji and stared at him with wide eyes as Sanji made glowering daggers an art. Then his eye went to Sanji's lips. Then his brain registered what he was looking at. Then his gaze snapped up with his heart twisting for a moment, and it met Sanji's own uncovered and bruised blue eye. He wondered how the hell someone's iris could treasure that impossible shade of blue. Then he realized Sanji had also ended up looking at his petrified lips, which kind of reminded him that he needed to come up with an answer. Then Sanji seemed to realize where his glare had landed and his damn blue eye went straight back to Zoro's, wishing for dear life he hadn't noticed and berating himself for it. Just that Zoro had obviously noticed, and Sanji had definitely noticed Zoro's eye fixed on his own lips a second before.

There was that tension hovering in the air again. It was almost unbearable.

"Uh… Okay," he managed. His gaze was inevitably back to Sanji's lips.

Sanji pulled him out of his daze with a snarl.

"Why are you still here?"

Zoro snapped his focus back to Sanji's eye and vaguely wondered what the hell he was doing. That wasn't like him.

"Shut up, curlybrow. I was already leaving," he growled, trying to bring his bleary senses back.

"You better."

Sanji broke eye contact and furiously went back to washing dishes in order to clear his mind; Zoro's cue to get the fuck out of there, which he did as if his feet were burning.

Fuck.

Fucking shitty fuck.

* * *

Sanji worried his lower lip as he finished drying the dishes.

Ugh. Damn.

Just as the words had left his mouth, he had known they were utterly true, and yet, now that they were spoken, now that Zoro was informed of how things were like and had finally left him alone, Sanji found himself wishing they weren't. He wished the kiss wouldn't have changed a thing. He wished they'd really go back to normal, because he kind of missed their fights and bickering without a care in the world about what words left his mouth or about where their physical contact when fighting would lead them.

Now it was hard to endure the tension building in whichever room they shared. Everything they said or did had to be thought twice, and they still hesitated every time. They had never needed to do that around each other; it was one of the greatest things about their relationship, and it was what let them vent with each other when they needed so. They were the person they could go all out with.

Not anymore, apparently.

Which brought Sanji up the wall and put Zoro on edge, and Sanji knew they couldn't do anything about it until they had assumed the fact that they had kissed, accepted it and gotten to the next page where they'd _really_ not give a fuck or forget it. Until that happened, the memory of the kiss would haunt them every time they sensed each other's presence, and that happened quite often on the Sunny. That was what made them need to be away from each other, even when that wasn't what they wanted. Even when they missed the carelessness they could afford around each other, the special kind of nakamaship they shared, even with the fights and arguments, especially with the fights and arguments.

Sanji sighed. For the billionth time that day, the thought crossed his mind that they had fucked up big time.

He hadn't had time to process what Zoro had done for him, how Zoro had led him out of that dark self-loathing well he had dug for himself, because he was too worried thinking about what that kiss had meant and how the fuck they could manage to get over it so that their relationship wouldn't become absolute trash because of it. Which he definitely didn't want, not after how it had evolved to a level he hadn't yet processed. For a moment, they had acted as friends. Zoro had been there for him and Sanji had let him be there. Zoro had done more for him than he gave himself credit for.

And Sanji hadn't thanked him yet.

Which, given their current situation, wouldn't be happening any time soon.

Sanji cursed himself and let his head rest on his hands, trying to get a hold of his confused and fucked-up self.

* * *

Zoro punched a wall and heard Franky yell some kind of obscenity at him. He consequently made a tactical retreat so that Franky wouldn't feel the temptation to stand up and beat the crap out of him for vandalizing their ship when they were spending crazy amounts of hours trying to repair it since their lives depended on it.

So Zoro got to the shore and climbed up the joke of an island they had ended up in, the rock haunting Sanji's nightmare's and sinking him deep in misery, a rock Zoro was now believing was also driving him nuts.

He was surprised when he found the exact place Sanji and him had voraciously kissed in, and vaguely wondered why the fuck his usually forgetful feet had brought him there. He thought of getting the hell out of there, but his legs gave in without him ordering them to, and he ended up seated with his legs crossed and staring at the ground with a deep scowl and a thousand mind-wrecking thoughts happily dancing in his head, much to his dismay.

He ordered himself to meditate his worries away, as he always did. Not that he had many, he was Rorona fucking Zoro and he usually didn't give a fuck about pretty much anything, but it still worked for him every time he needed it to.

This time, as soon as his eyes closed, the image of Sanji's swollen lips appeared in the back of his mind. Then his whole face, burning, sweaty, hot and fucking sexy as he looked down at him with that particular glint deep in his blue orb that screamed 'sex'.

Zoro snapped his eye open with a gasp and whined at the world, oh, cruel world, when he realized that he was hard. Yes, _whined_. Well, he did have a damn good excuse, his brain was currently leading a rebellion against his person and sanity. And it was kind of winning, because the idea of seppuku had become appealing again. Had he just thought Sanji was sexy? Hell, had he just fucking gotten hard at the blonde's thought?

"What the fuck," he groaned.

His brain helpfully reminded him that, not many nights ago, he had gotten hard after a nasty fight with Sanji as Sanji straddled him. Back then he had told himself some bullshit about it being due to the adrenaline of the fight, which he always enjoyed. Because, damn, he had gotten a boner in a larger number of fights against Sanji than he wanted to admit. The adrenaline of the fight… Maybe that's why he had kissed him. The familiar hunger their fights awakened in him had turned into another kind of hunger and… And why the hell was he getting hard _now_ when Sanji wasn't even there, when he didn't even have the excuse of having remembered a fight? Nah, he had remembered Sanji on him, Sanji panting hard _on_ him as they _kissed_, and he had gotten a fucking boner. No fight involved.

Maybe he should ask Chopper to switch his brain off, the young doctor was a genius, he surely knew how to do something like that without causing permanent damage. Send his stupid rebellious brain to sleep for a while, see if it stopped coming up with bullshit Zoro didn't need. That sounded like a great idea.

Zoro whined.

Again.

Nope, he wasn't going to take care of that fucking boner there, not where he had kissed with Sanji, not when he had gotten hard at Sanji's memory.

His hand was twitching and dangerously near his crotch. Fuck, no! What had he trained for all of these years? He had always prided himself of having some good fucking self-control, he wasn't about to prove himself the contrary.

But, shit, he needed-

And Sanji's words from minutes before in the galley hit him like a hammer. Zoro's eye snapped open again and he felt his breath momentarily trapped in his lungs as all of those words came to him, Sanji's restrained, frustrated and pissed off expression coming along with them inside his head.

It kind of hurt. Somehow. But thank fuck the bastard had managed to keep his brain chained and in place for both of them, since Zoro's wasn't doing himself that favour. Thank fuck Sanji had always used his brain more than his urges, and thank fuck Sanji had had the lucidity of putting into words the exact situation they were both stuck in. The same words that now rang in his head and helped him clear his ideas. The same words that now were making his hand retreat and leave his southern problem alone, thank fuck!

The same words that made him feel a painful pang in his chest as he remembered they had fucked up for real. The same words that made him wish they could go back to normal, the same that made him miss his ordinary interactions with Sanji, their usual bickering and fights. He even missed asshole Sanji. He especially missed his challenging smirk when he looked at him and said something that he knew would rile him up. That wasn't happening again, not in the near future. And Zoro was already missing it.

He didn't know why he suddenly remembered Sanji's strong frame in his arms as he embraced the blonde, how warm he had felt, how he had thought it felt right. But he had known by then, and now reminded himself, that it was a one-time thing. That wouldn't have happened again even if the kiss hadn't taken place and things hadn't become awkward as fuck for both of them.

The thought slightly bugged him. Some part of his traitorous brain echoed the idea that it was a shame. He didn't want to admit that the thought had made him deflate.

He quickly laughed at himself.

What was he thinking? It would take a while to even engage a proper good fight with Sanji, and that event already seemed far away. Unless something changed somehow in the upcoming days, which Zoro didn't quite believe plausible.

His swords twitched in frank annoyance in their hilts, almost complaining. Zoro let out a sad smile.

"Sorry about that," he apologized as he patted them.

* * *

"Dinner!"

The crew gathered in the galley dragging their feet and looking exhausted. They had barely eaten that day, and they didn't even have the strength to properly walk. Which they did anyways. Nobody complained. Actually, Luffy not complaining _at all_ those past days when the phrase he'd usually exploit the most was 'Sanji, I'm hungry!', or its simpler version 'Sanji, food!", was a miracle. Sanji promised himself to reward him with a meat feast when they got out of there. _If _they got out of there.

The bitter thought crossed his mind when he was serving the dishes. They only contained a small piece of dry bread and some cheese. Or what reminded them of cheese. The bit was too small to tell.

He tried not to look too much at the serving, especially not Zoro's. Or else he'd snap and he couldn't afford that.

He was surprised when he stumbled a little while walking to his seat after getting everyone sorted. Zoro stood up faster than lightning and reached for him, but Brook, who was closer and had longer limbs, was faster. He got a hold of Sanji's elbow as Sanji used his other hand to stabilize himself against the table. Sanji blinked in mild surprise, as if he hadn't registered the action as his.

"Yohoho, careful there, my dear friend!"

"Oops, must be getting clumsy," he smiled as he brushed it off and sent a grateful short glance at Brook. And then sat down. Zoro sat down as well so that Sanji wouldn't notice his reaction. Sanji had lost balance, probably losing strength for a moment when his body had decided to complain for the lack of food it had been getting lately. And Zoro knew it. Sanji had been the one to eat less out of all of them for longer, and still, he was just starting to show signs of weakness now. Had to admire him. But of course the bastard would give it no importance at all.

"Sanji, are you okay?" Nami asked in a worried tone.

Nami was a witch, in Zoro's opinion, but Zoro had to recognize she was a good caring nakama when the situation required her too.

"Of course I am, Namiiii! The fact that you are worrying about me makes me feel honored, love, but there's really no need to, I'm fine, I just tripped!" Sanji swooned, his eyes almost turned to hearts. Almost. He obviously didn't have the strength to complete the idiotic transformation.

'_No, you didn't fucking trip'_, Zoro thought as he restrained a snarl. _'You almost fainted there, bastard.'_

Zoro vaguely pondered the consequences of knocking Sanji out and putting him to bed so that he'd sleep a bit. And then maybe also shoving both his ration and Zoro's down his throat. He discarded the idea. Shit, he was starting to hate having to restrain himself this much around the bastard. He had never needed to do that before. Well, he had never felt the need to put him to bed and feed him like a fucking nurse before either, but that was neither here or there.

He had a quick flash of Sanji's back in front of him as he tried to convince Kuma of exchanging his life for Zoro's. He remembered the panic of briefly thinking he didn't want Sanji to die. So he had stood up gathering strength he didn't remember having left and knocked Sanji out. No second thoughts. He had needed to protect Sanji from his own idiocy and fucking altruistic bravery, he had needed to keep Sanji from protecting him because he couldn't have Sanji dying no matter what, and he had just done what he knew he had to. Sanji's betrayed expression had made his chest hurt, he remembered that, but it still had been worth it. It was so different now. As much as he knew what he wanted to do, he couldn't. As much as he wanted to help Sanji -and he had already helped him, thank fuck Sanji had let him-, now there were second thoughts involved. Now there was something telling him to think twice, which he had never done before. Which kept him from doing what he really wanted to.

Zoro balled his fists and swallowed a frustrated groan.

"You sure, Sanji?" he heard Luffy ask.

"Yes, captain, everything's alright, I'm fine, no need to worry, damn it!" Sanji's tone changed to exasperate and annoyed when directed to Luffy. A subtle way to tell him 'don't you dare give me your pity!' Yeah, very Sanji-like. That damn pride of his… Not that Zoro could complain, his wasn't any better.

"Sanji, if you don't feel right you should tell me, you know," Chopper reminded him with an already resigned tone. Because he totally expected the answer to be:

"I'm fine, Chopper, I just tripped! Come on, there's no way I'd feel sick, who do you think you are talking to?"

Zoro was tempted to answer 'the king of idiots', but he kept himself from doing so. Again. Damn, he was ready to break things.

Chopper huffed and rolled his eyes in frustration, but stopped insisting. He had learnt the hard way that in that crew there were few good patients. Half of them were idiots who popped their stitches open almost as fast as they made their bandages mysteriously disappear, not to mention how they'd refuse to get treated or seek for help to start with. Another part of them, namely Usopp, would make his job hell by inventing a few thousand new illnesses per day under the pretext of not wanting to do something either because he was a lazy ass or because he was afraid of doing so. Which left the ladies as his favorite patients. Not that they were perfect patients either; they were stubborn as they came, they all were in that crew, and if they felt they were needed they'd just fake they couldn't hear Chopper's orders to get some rest. But at least they pretended they obeyed him. And when they didn't have an excuse they _actually_ obeyed, which was almost like a blessing to Chopper. Sanji was in the first group. So, yeah, no use in trying to get him to admit he felt weak and maybe a little bit sick.

Suddenly, the door of the galley flew open and Franky and Usopp walked in side by side and joined them with smiles that actually reminded the rest of the crew of their original ones. Not subdued weak ones, but bright and cheerful ones.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we've got some news for you!" Usopp announced. He was doing that thing he did when he was about to tell something Great Usopp had done. The one where he'd place his finger under his nose with that _'I'm-the-boss-and-you-know-it,-no,-no-need-to-thank-me,-peasants'_ expression.

Franky stood by his side with a grin they hadn't seen for days. He placed his sunglasses up his forehead and did that victorious pose with his hand on his flexed hip that basically screamed _'I'm about to tell you something suuuuuper, bros, prepare yourselves for my awesomeness'_.

"We do, don't we, Usopp?" the cyborg teased.

Usopp nodded vigorously, enjoying the spotlight way too much.

"Oi, stop playing around and tell us!" Nami yelled at them with a pissed off expression. Everyone knew why. There was only one thing those two could be so happy about… right? If they were only playing with them then Nami wouldn't be kicking their sorry asses alone.

Robin raised an eyebrow at Franky, ushering him to answer. To which Franky winked at her with his playful grin, letting Usopp enjoy the attention for a bit longer as the long-nose laughed quite unattractively and made them wait for the sake of it.

Luffy and Chopper looked at them like damn children waiting for their candy, but kept silent. Despite them being naïve and Luffy being an idiot 120% of the time, they knew what the news could potentially be. And they knew it was a serious topic.

Sanji's heart was beating hard. Could it be…? His gaze fell on Zoro, who, instead of looking at the duo mocking them, was looking back at him from the start with an understanding look that matched Sanji's line of thought like a mirror, almost as if he was also asking him: could it be…? Sanji snapped, eyes back to Franky and Usopp.

"Oi, long-nose, quit-"

"If everything goes as planned, we'll be able to leave tomorrow evening. The day after tomorrow in the morning at most," Franky announced with a grin that went from cocky to relieved and simply happy.

Sanji's half snarl turned into a full-on beam without him registering it.

"For real?!" he exclaimed, his smile reaching his eyes and making them glow as he stood up, unable to bottle the excitement inside.

"Yes, bro, we've got this," Franky smiled back.

Sanji laughed. First it was a short disbelieving laughter. Then he heard Luffy yell something in excitement, then Nami and Robin were hugging each other and Nami was laughing as well, and Luffy was suddenly wrapped around Usopp squeezing the oxygen out of the poor young man's lungs, cheering for their shipwright and sniper and clapping like an idiot around them as he kept wrapping his body around Usopp, who was crying for dear life and begging for oxygen and telling Luffy he was asphyxiating him, which Luffy obviously didn't listen to. And Chopper was jumping from side to side in delight, hugging Usopp's leg and climbing up Franky's shoulder as the blue haired man guffawed and yelled victorious chants in his trademark 'suuuuuuuuuuuuuper' pose; and Brook started playing the happiest-sounding tune they had heard him play since they had faced the storm, and everyone started dancing or jumping to the beat as they hugged the others, and Sanji couldn't help it anymore and he started laughing like mad.

Happiness and relief are contagious, he guessed.

His gaze landed on Zoro again, and the swordsman came back to reality. He had been staring at Sanji laughing. He hadn't seen or heard his laughter for a while. And it kept him trapped staring at him with fascination, something banging in his chest, maybe happiness. When Sanji looked back at him, he jumped in surprise. Shit, he had caught him. They stayed there looking at each other in silence, Sanji's face back to serious and Zoro's petrified in place. Then Sanji broke into a grin as bright as the sun and Zoro thought he might just get blinded by it. But it was contagious. Before he knew what he was doing, he was smiling back. More like beaming back. He felt the beginnings of laughter gurgle in his chest and when Sanji was thrown into a happy laughing fit, Zoro followed suit. His eye didn't leave Sanji's as they tried to regain their breaths in vain. He vaguely registered Chopper hugging Sanji and Sanji patting him in between chuckles, and then Chopper jumped to Zoro and squeezed the life out of him. And Zoro hugged the small reindeer back in an unusual show of affection because, fuck, he felt like it. When Chopper jumped out of his arms to go hug someone else, Zoro's gaze went back to Sanji and he saw him saying something to a grinning Nami who answered back with an expression that resembled a small kid's on Christmas. That had Sanji smiling harder and warmer. The blonde had always held a special kind of affection for the redhead.

Then Sanji turned back to him and their eyes met again, their grins and disbelieving happy laughter still in place.

And the brief thought that their relationship was in a difficult situation, the brief memory of their controversial kiss, the brief reminder that, for now, they were better off keeping themselves from each other, they all crossed their heads. But each other's smile told them not to give a fuck for a moment. They didn't need that shit right then and there. They'd think about it later, it would all go back to uncomfortable and tense and unbearable later, that was a given, they knew it, but they didn't need that now, not when they had just received the best news they had heard after a series of infernal days. Not when happiness and relief were bubbling inside their chests and spreading everywhere inside them, showing through their grins, not leaving space for anything else.

So Zoro didn't hesitate when he returned the high five Sanji was silently asking for with his palm wide open in the air and a grin. And Sanji didn't take a step back when Zoro's hand grabbed Sanji's and brought their shoulders to bump hard in a victorious 'fuck yeah'. They just laughed harder.

"We'll make it!" Zoro exclaimed with a grin matching Sanji's centimeters away from his face.

Sanji thought that, for the first time in days, those words didn't sound like an encouraging consolation. For the first time in days, those words sounded like a promise they could all keep and wait for.

_We'll make it._

"We'll make it!" he repeated.

Sanji laughed even harder, the wrinkles around his eyes accentuating, his nose crinkling and his cheeks hurting from all the smiling. Zoro took that expression in. He didn't know when he'd see it again. Specially directed at him. He beamed like he rarely did. Then he was yanked away by a spiraling Luffy, who was yelling loud enough for him to wonder if his ears would survive the assault. Sanji swiftly ran to help Chopper revive a strangled Usopp who was foaming on the floor after being accidentally strangled by their captain, laughing all along despite his poor friend's luck.

Zoro and Sanji wouldn't share another moment like that one later that night.

But Zoro would hear Sanji's laugh more often than not and so he would keep smiling to himself, feeling simply happy and relieved that he could finally see a near end to the hell they'd been put in.

All in all, it was a good night.

_We'll make it._

Zoro smiled and let his captain hug him tight without resisting. He could afford letting his badass-self rest for a bit for that night.

**TBC**

* * *

**A/N: **Hiiiii! I know there's been a lot of angst lately, but I had always pictured these two idiots having trouble accepting something else aside from rivarly existing in between them. Things are starting to get better, though! Happy ending for this chapter! hehehe :D

I really hope you like it, let me know your opinions please, they are always helpful! :)

I'm planning on making yet another chapter in which they are still in this island, but it won't be long until things start to change and they get elsewhere! These two are still going to live in denial for a while but that's just how they are XD

See you in the next chapter!


	18. Chapter 18 - Don't Look Back

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* * *

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**Chapter 18**

**Don't Look Back**

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* * *

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The sun was barely rising as Sanji walked to deck and lit himself a cigarette. It was quite chilly outside, and it looked as if it would rain, the clouds slowly darkening the orangey sky.

Sanji took a drag and blew the warm smoke out of his lungs with a satisfied sigh. He wasn't facing the rocky island, he was facing the horizon, miles and miles of endless sea extending like a mirror in front of him. He wondered how much of the vast ocean ahead of them they'd have to sail until they managed to fish something.

Nami had told them that she had managed to find a shorter route that would roughly take them a week instead of two, which they all were relieved to hear, but it still was too much if they didn't manage to hunt something down to keep them fed until they reached the next island and restocked.

Last night had been a good one, they had all seen as their stress levels reduced to minimum with the perspective of getting the hell out of that shitty island within a day, but that didn't mean their problems had magically vanished. They still had to wait a day, Nami still had to lead them through the right route until they reached hopefully inhabited ground, and their food supplies were to only last a day, two at the very most. Which was a problem. Sanji's problem, if he was to be specific, since it was his job to keep the crew fed.

And so his mind kept on imagining shitty scenarios in which there'd be nothing to fish on their way to the next island, in which they'd have to starve for real, with no supplies left, for a week or maybe more. He realized he'd go nuts if that happened. So he hoped, wished, prayed for them to fish something once they had gotten away from there.

He was mildly surprised when he registered someone else's footsteps walking out of the men's quarters and to the deck.

He almost jumped two feet in the air when he recognized them as Zoro's.

He didn't turn around. He forced his gaze to stay on the horizon as he calmed his now frantic nerves down and tried to look nonchalant when he took another forcedly casual drag of his cigarette.

Zoro thought he might get a stroke when his bleary eye was focused enough to register somebody else's presence on deck and saw blonde hair. Shit. He stopped in his tracks and froze his movements, wishing Sanji wouldn't have noticed his presence. Which he obviously had if his tense stance was anything to go by. Zoro restrained a sigh and scratched the back of his hair. Why did he have such bad luck? It was too early in the morning, even for the cook, so he hadn't thought he'd meet him there. But there they both were.

"Hi," he greeted with about the same enthusiasm and liveliness as a rock.

Sanji irritably wondered why the fuck Zoro had opened his big mouth. He could have silently walked away and Sanji would have pretended he hadn't noticed him, and they'd be sparing themselves this uncomfortable moment. But no, Zoro had to go and talk.

"Hi," he answered with the exact same enthusiasm.

Too polite for them, too tense for them, too out of character and definitely uncomfortable.

"You're up early today," Sanji commented, taking a look at his interesting cigarette. Why the hell did he keep talking? He could just shut his trap as well and ignore the swordsman. That would send the message.

"Uh… yeah, couldn't sleep," Zoro replied with a weird grimace. Shit, why hadn't he tried to discretely walk away as soon as he had seen Sanji? "Thought I'd do some early training."

"Go ahead," Sanji invited with a gesture. A polite way to tell him to leave him alone. Which Zoro apparently didn't get.

"You are up early as well," Zoro stated awkwardly.

Well, wasn't Zoro a genius. Sanji looked at him with a raised eyebrow, silently asking him why _the fuck_ he was making this longer than it needed to be. Sanji was trying to politely make things easier, but Zoro didn't seem to get the picture.

"Couldn't sleep either."

Of course they couldn't. On one hand, they kept dreaming and waking up to the image of that fucking kiss, which was now threatening to reappear in the back of their minds as they talked. On the other hand, today was hopefully the day they'd leave that nightmare of an island, and they couldn't wait for it to happen, so they couldn't exactly sleep it off either. It was the kind of nervousness a kid would get the night before Christmas. Kind of. They wouldn't receive presents, they'd just get an awaited way out to a lot of their problems, which had been a lot ever since they had set foot in there.

Zoro nodded and decided to do them both a favor and leave, because this was damn uncomfortable for his taste.

"We're finally leaving," he suddenly heard Sanji say at his back as he walked away. He turned to face him, surprised, and found Sanji looking back at him with an awkward yet sincerely relieved smile.

Zoro blinked and slowly mirrored the gesture, feeling awkward as hell but a huge deal better.

"We are," he muttered.

Finally.

"Come on, get the fuck out of here, you are disturbing my peaceful morning, Marimo," Sanji ushered with a scowl as he stared back at the sea, his tone trying to be the annoyed-playful one he usually used with Zoro. Trying to inject some normality in their tense interactions. And utterly failing.

But at least he had called him marimo. That was a good sign.

"Shut your trap, I was already leaving, as if I'd want to share your same fucking space," Zoro growled, playing along and failing as well.

They internally sighed in frustration. They'd definitely need time. Lots of time. The need to be away from each other was still huge, their interactions were forced and tense, and the damn kiss memory kept happily popping in their heads and making them want to throw themselves out of the ship and drown.

It's not like they weren't trying. But it just wasn't the same. And that certainty got both Sanji and Zoro in a really bad mood, only sweetened with the perspective of getting the fuck out of there soon enough. Or so they hoped.

* * *

Sanji sat at the top of the stairs leading to the grass deck. He watched Franky's movements as he did something he didn't understand to the mast. The cyborg kept talking to Usopp, who ran from side to side gathering things or repairing minor left damages here and there. The whole scene had 'pangs' and 'bangs' as its soundtrack. It was quite entertaining to watch, even if he didn't understand shit of what they were saying. He was pretty sure there were tools they were using that didn't exist in the rest of the world, presumably the ones whose names included words such as 'super (whatever)' or 'Great Usopp's (whatever)'.

Chopper was sat by his side, weakly leaning his furry head against Sanji's knee and watching the scene with him. Poor kid was tired as hell, he needed some good nutrients and fast.

"What's Franky using there?" the small reindeer would ask every now and then.

Sanji would follow the way his hoof pointed at and, more often than not, he'd raise an eyebrow or both of them and go for the default answer.

"I don't have a clue."

Then they'd play a small game that kept Chopper's mind away from how hungry he was. They'd try to guess what that particular tool was and what its use was. Every now and then they'd say something that'd make Franky's ears bleed and the cyborg would dedicate a few seconds to pull his 'you both are idiots' face and explain them its actual use.

Nami had been locked in her studio all morning, working on the last details of their trip, making sure everything was perfect and ready for when Franky would give them the 'go' word.

Robin was helping Usopp and Franky out by sprouting hands pretty much everywhere and placing pieces and tools where they'd tell her. All along she was reading some archaeology book under the shadow of one of their trees. Sometimes Sanji wished he'd have Robin's power; it was one of the most useful ones he had seen, and he could certainly use it when cooking for the black hole that was their captain. Well, when he'd have food to cook, that is.

Luffy cheered them from his royal place on top of Sunny's head, clapping both with his hands and feet, barely containing his excitement. The reason he was sat there and not running around the ship like a madman was because Nami had threatened him with a painful death if he didn't behave and let the others work. Previous experiences had taught Luffy to obey Nami's 'petitions' when she got serious. Add the fact that Sanji had helped Nami's case by promising Luffy a feast when they got out of there if he kept behaving, and you had a definitely well-behaved Luffy whose movements he had managed to restrain to yelling, laughing like an idiot and clapping. For _hours_ now. Sanji swore he was growing a permanent headache.

Brook had used the 'pangs' and 'clanks' as the beat for the songs he played, changing the tune every time the beat changed, which apparently kept their musician entertained to no end as he danced around with his violin, dedicating words of support to their shipwright and sniper and casually walking to Robin to politely ask her if she might show him her panties.

"Oi, Brook, ask her again and I swear I'll burn your afro to ashes!" Sanji threatened from his spot on the top of the stairs for the fifth consecutive time that morning.

Robin chuckled and Brook yohohoed as he told him he was harsh, which he always found amusing. But he still walked to the other side of the ship. He appreciated his afro hair.

All in all, even when it was cloudy and most likely about to rain, they were all on deck watching their saviors work their magic on the ship they hoped would sail that night, except for Nami, who needed to be inside so that she could work on her maps. Well, and except for the marimo, who had kept himself busy training in the crow's nest all morning. Sanji knew the reason. He was avoiding him. And Sanji was glad he did. Not having him around made the tension more bearable, even if he felt slightly sad that it had to be like this. Not that he'd ever admit it.

At some point Zoro descended from the crow's nest, all sweaty and topless, his impossible muscles in display for everyone to see. It was almost lunch time. Sanji made a disastrous job out of not really looking at him until Chopper noticed his presence.

"Hey, Zoro, I told you not to train, dammit, you need to rest!" he screeched. Sanji took a reticent look at Zoro's ruined bandages along his abdomen and arms, where he had seriously burned him during their fight. He could get a glimpse of the burn now, and it looked quite nasty. He remembered how the stitches healing the cuts in his abs, arm and leg were a pain in the ass and decided he wouldn't feel guilty about it. Zoro had cut him pretty bad as well.

"I have rested enough!" Zoro grunted.

"No, you haven't, dammit, look at your burns! The hell do you do this for? Is it your goal to give me a stroke?! Those bandages will need changing now, Zoro!" Chopper yelled with an outraged hoof pointing at him. Sanji's gaze wandered from the ballistic little reindeer to Zoro, who didn't give a flying fuck. As per usual.

He restrained a smirk. Zoro was lucky Chopper was feeling weak and tired; if that hadn't been the case he would have already dragged Zoro to the infirmary instead of staying sat by his side, slapping Sanji's injured tight with indignation as he scolded their swordsman from a distance. Which kind of hurt since that's where the cook had one of his cuts, but Sanji didn't point it out and let him do what he wanted with an amused smile as he didn't want their doctor to _really_ suffer a stroke.

"Whatever, if they need changing you can change them once I have bathed," Zoro grunted in displeasure, clearly trying to calm Chopper down so that he'd stop giving him shit about this.

"Oh, I will, damn sure I will, you just wait!" Chopper swore with vigorous nods and a threatening glare.

"Oi, Zoro, I need you to bring me that big box there!" Usopp called.

Zoro looked at Usopp with a raised eyebrow, then looked at the big wooden box he was pointing at, then back at Usopp with both eyebrows raised in an annoyed gesture.

"What am I? Your pack mule?"

"Something like this," Franky interceded, most of his attention spent in a spot on the mast as he mangled with some tools, his expression concentrated, not even looking at Zoro. "Oi, bro, bring it here already, we don't have all day!"

"What the hell, haven't you just heard me?! He needs rest! _Rest_!" Chopper screeched by Sanji's side. Not that anybody gave a fuck.

Sanji stared at the poor distressed reindeer with an amused smile that barely concealed a chuckle, patting his hat as consolingly as he could.

Zoro scowled deep and hard and reluctantly did as they told him only to find that he had trouble lifting the damn box. Not only was it heavy, he still had broken ribs he had to deal with, and he was feeling damn tired and weak after training like mad without a proper food ingestion fueling him. He muttered some curses and Sanji found himself mockingly snickering at the scene. Zoro plopped the box by Usopp's side with a glare that promised a painful death and Usopp made it an art to laugh it off as if he wasn't about to piss his pants under Zoro's murderous aura. Then Zoro heard Sanji snickering and changed his prey, glowering daggers at him.

Sanji met Zoro's eye and drew his most annoying shitty smirk for the sole purpose of pissing him off. For the sake of the normality they were trying to get back. He slayed it. Zoro growled an insult and gave him the finger. Sanji snickered again and returned the gesture as Zoro stomped to the bathroom in order to clean himself. He went the wrong way and Sanji restrained himself from pointing it out as he would have normally done. Last thing he wanted was Zoro to know he was watching his steps.

So he waited instead.

And when Zoro came back to deck to take the right path, he found Sanji grinning at him his shittiest grin without saying a word. Zoro's blush reached his embarrassed ears as he made it a goal not to look at Sanji, walking fast to where he was now pretty sure the bathroom was. Or where he hoped it was.

Once in the bathroom, he looked at his own reflection in the mirror. He had earned a cut in the jaw when he had fought against Sanji. It was healing just fine. Then he got rid of his bandages and examined his burns. They did look quite nasty. To be fair, that had been a pretty nasty fight.

He tried not to go there. That topic led to their kiss, and he didn't want to think about it. Damn, he had thought about it. Great job, Zoro.

He prepared himself a hot bath because he decided he deserved it after having become a martyr of fate who kept being punished for unknown reasons, mostly through a certain blonde that had been sent to his life for the whole purpose of making it hell and driving him insane.

He got into the warm water and felt instantly relieved.

Well, that had been something similar to _their_ normality. Sanji hadn't exactly provoked him as he would usually do: through annoying words and witty remarks, and Zoro hadn't reacted to it the way he usually would: yelling at him, insulting him and daring him to fight him. They hadn't ended up fighting and screaming hell to each other, which would have been the natural outcome. Rather, Sanji had silently provoked him with his subtle snickering and mocking grin, and Zoro had retaliated with an equally silent murderous glare. They hadn't started a fight, they hadn't as much as exchanged a word and they wouldn't if they could avoid it, but at least he had seen a glimpse of what their relationship used to be like. Subdued and discrete, fucking restrained and tense, but it still was familiar ground. Sanji mocked him. Zoro got angry and fell for his taunt. It was kind of the essence of how they had interacted all along, so it was a good sign and definitely a step.

Zoro thought that maybe they could really do it, get back what they had just fucked up.

Or maybe not.

Maybe that's as far as they'd get. He tried not to validate that possibility and told himself it was alright. He told himself it would get better. It was definitely better than the day before. But it still was nothing compared to the small moment they had shared the night before, when they had forgotten about their problem for a moment and simply laughed and high-fived and shared their relief like nakama would. Like… friends would. Maybe. He wasn't sure. He hadn't yet come to the point where he could openly recognize their relationship as friendship. It probably had never been. If there had been anything similar to it between them, they had screwed it the moment they had kissed, anyways, and that's the only truth that mattered.

Zoro sighed and tried to relax, his eyes closed again as he decided to meditate.

And Sanji's face, with his swollen lips and half-lidded blue eyes as he looked down at him, appeared again at the back of his mind.

"Fuck!"

Zoro jumped and straightened up, sitting in the bath tube with his heart hammering his chest and thoughts he didn't want to acknowledge running wild in his head. He face-palmed and groaned in his hand.

Shit.

Fuck.

Zoro tried to get the image out of his head but it only became more vivid.

He tried to ignore his erection and clenched his teeth trying to gather some restraint, summoning all kind of unpleasant images in his head so that the ones having anything to do with a certain sexy blonde would go away.

"Fuck…"

He was pretty sure he was going insane.

There could be no other explanation…

Right?

* * *

Sanji tuned down Usopp's tale of how he had fought against a horde of giants whose mounts were legendary dragons. He had apparently won with a secret technique nobody knew of that involved his pinky finger and nothing else. Because he could apparently take all of them down with his pinky finger in two seconds, which had Chopper and Luffy in awe as they clapped along and cheered for him while Usopp kept priding himself of utter bullshit while he repaired the ship.

Sanji smiled at Chopper's amazed expression and then proceeded to lose himself in his thoughts, in which he internally smirked. Zoro's pissed off expression as he mockingly laughed at him came to his mind. He felt a weird sense of satisfaction at the thought.

That had been more like them.

* * *

"How's it, Franky?" Nami asked.

Everyone was gathered on deck. Dusk was slowly taking the sky and they had started to switch on the ship's lights.

"Let me check a few more things," the shipwright answered, taking a careful look at the mast he had been working on for so long. He patted it with a nod. "Oi, Usopp!"

They heard a muffled answer from below deck, confirming he had heard him.

"How's it down there?!" Franky asked with his stormy voice, glasses placed up his forehead.

"Give me a moment!" they heard their sniper say.

The whole crew fell silent, waiting for an answer. That was the last thing they needed to check. If Usopp said the engine worked, they got the 'okay' to finally leave.

Luffy had his arm around his first mate, who kept still and expressionless like a statue as he waited. Luffy was as much of an idiot as you want to call him, but he knew when one of his crewmates needed some support; and Zoro was concealing it just fine, but he was frantic and hysterical inside and Luffy felt it clear as day. He had been like this ever since he had gotten out of the bathroom, looking stressed and barely keeping his cool by turning his face into stone, keeping his expression at bay. The frantic anxiousness still showed in his open eye, though. Luffy hadn't asked him what was wrong, he had let him be, but now he was nonchalantly letting an arm hang on his first mate's shoulder in silent support as he watched Franky walk around, waiting for Usopp's answer. And Zoro was letting him. Which meant he needed it.

And, if Luffy had noticed, Sanji had noticed as well. He kept casting discrete glances at the swordsman, who looked like the calmest and most relaxed man in the world, his expression the perfect picture of the 'I don't give a fuck' badass attitude he usually sported. But there was something off and Sanji knew it. Which made him feel anxious as well, more than he should have been as he waited for his desired 'let's set sail'.

Robin patted his shoulder and Sanji gave her a surprised look. She warmly smiled at him, her way of reassuring him that everything would be alright. Sanji would have swooned. She was an actual angel. But he was too nervous for that, so he just sent her a grateful smile and nodded.

Not even Brook was playing his music, instead he was sat on the railing with his arms crossed, unnaturally silent, with Chopper by his side, his eyes wide open and hopeful.

Nami impatiently tapped her high-heeled feet, starting to feel the tension. The loge-pose was ready, the maps with the shorter route marked were ready, they were damn ready and willing to leave, everything was ready. They just needed their ship to be ready.

Franky seemed to be the only one who felt truly calm inside.

At some point, Usopp's voice emerged again from below deck.

"Everything's working fine here! I think we got it!"

Sanji felt a grin break in his face and the silence was interrupted by Brook's triumphal 'yohoho' laugh. Chopper cheered from his side. Robin smiled at the same time Franky gave them a victorious grin. Luffy's had never been wider.

"So, I take it everything's ready?" Nami asked with a suddenly confident smile lighting her smart dark eyes.

Franky nodded at her. "Totally ready. Sunny's back to life."

Nami grinned. Then turned to look at Luffy. "So… Captain?"

Luffy looked back at her and firmly squeezed Zoro's shoulder as he relocated his hat the way he did when he was about to give an order, his grin matching the vivid glint of his eyes.

"Oi, everyone!" he called.

They all looked at him with resolute expressions. Usopp emerged to deck and smiled at the scene. The rest was pure routine. For first time in days, they knew what came next. Which had them all smirking, smiling and grinning as they waited for _the_ order.

"Yes, captain?" Zoro answered, his confident stance surprisingly back in the blink of an eye, inside and out. He felt the bottled stress leave his body like a flood. He was smirking as well. His confident badass smirk. Zoro's trademark smirk. The real one.

Luffy grinned harder.

"LET'S SET SAIL, STRAWHATS!" he yelled at the sky.

They all yelled back a collective "_hell yeah!_", their fists raising in the air.

Nami started giving orders. Everyone danced to her commands, with more energy than ever, even when they felt weak and exhausted. Enthusiasm, confidence and hope made up for it.

Sanji couldn't help it when he looked at Zoro. He was also staring at him, hesitantly at first. Then a victorious and confident grin took over his features and Sanji matched the gesture. It had always been contagious.

_We'll make it._

It wasn't even a promise anymore. It was a statement. They didn't exchange any words, but that had been enough to send the message.

They were finally getting out of there.

Finally leaving the shitty island that had haunted Sanji's nightmares and thoughts, the island that had threatened to drive him nuts when he had already been at his lowest point. The island in which Zoro had somehow managed to fix Sanji until he wasn't tormenting himself anymore, the rock in which Sanji had understood he wasn't alone, the one in which he had accepted Zoro as his pillar, the one in which he had let him in, baring himself to his rival and discovering a fundamental level of trust and respect in between them that he had always known existed but had never acknowledged.

The island in which Zoro had questioned his sanity again and again, the one in which he had realized that he fucking _cared_ for Sanji, the one in which he had realized he'd miss him if he never came back, even his asshole-self, because Sanji was his nakama and someone Zoro trusted and appreciated more than he'd ever care to admit. It was the island where Zoro had sent his pride to hell in order to pursue a fading Sanji so that he'd be able to make him come back, because he had been forced to admit to himself that he wanted Sanji in his life and there was no way he was letting him go. He had gotten a hint back in Thriller Bark, now he knew it for sure.

It was also the island where they had made a huge mistake, though. The island where they had lost their minds, where they had fucked up whatever they had built up to that day, the island where they had destroyed their precious normality. The island where things had started to change, as much as they didn't want to, as much as they now missed their old relationship, without complications, without unspoken secrets hanging in between them.

But they were finally getting out of there.

They were finally free of everything that rock meant. Whatever was left resided in their brains. It was their job to keep the memories of the good things they had lived there and get rid of the bad ones. And it was their job to decide which memories were good and which were bad. What to keep and what to forget.

Sanji didn't look back at the hellish rock when their ship fought the waves to sail away. Whatever he had gained or lost there, he wasn't going to look back. That rock was gone. There were miles and miles of unknown ocean in front of them to sail. There was a new island, a new adventure awaiting them. That rock was already in the past and he had always been one to try not to linger too much on it; the few times he had done so had ended up quite badly. It had happened in that rock: his past had haunted him, his past had tortured him, and he had almost lost himself. That's why he tried to leave his past in the past. And that's why he couldn't understand why on Earth his mind kept travelling to the moment when Zoro had embraced him back in that rock and reliving it now that they were sailing away, as they ran up and down the ship obeying Nami's orders.

He felt happy, though. They were going, they were finally leaving.

_We'll make it._

Sanji grinned despite himself.

**TBC**

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**A/N:** Hi there! It's been quite long since I last updated, sorry about that! This chapter was all about closing the events happening in The Rock and getting to a whole new page in this story! I hope you like it! Where do you thing they are going to land this time? :) Working on the next chapter already, I hope it won't be long until I finish it!


	19. Chapter 19 - Terevera

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**Chapter 19**

**Terevera**

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It was called Terevera.

They reached their destination eight days after having left what they had come to name The Rock.

By the third day, after spending two days without any supplies left at all and basically starving to death much to Sanji's despair, they had managed to fish something. Usopp's special net, the one supposed to attract fishes from a long distance, finally worked as it was supposed to, and it got considerably filled overnight. Sanji almost cried in relief. Almost. The whole crew gathered forces to collect the net and their treat, and that night Sanji had cooked a feast. They had filled their stomachs until they couldn't eat anything else.

It was curious how something that had been such a great problem in their lives for a few days had been erased in the blink of an eye. How things had changed from desperate when they had been about to die starved, to them celebrating their luck with a fish feast and suddenly getting regular food supplies by fishing.

After a week, Sanji still looked at their preys with wonder. At a point, they had had _nothing_. At all. They had been struggling to make their supplies last, Sanji had been giving himself a stroke every time he had to work with their decreasing to non-existent ingredients. They had gotten to the point where they had nothing left, where they couldn't eat anything _at all_ anymore because all food was gone, just when they had set sail, where Sanji would sit alone in the kitchen and restrain frustrated tears because he couldn't do anything for his crew as a cook anymore. Usopp's net wasn't working. Nothing was working. They were all getting unhealthily thin, they all moved to Nami's weaker and weaker orders with strength they didn't have, Chopper had fainted twice and Zoro had stopped training because he couldn't allow himself to waste any extra energy anymore. Luffy didn't complain, he just sat there with his gaze lost, starving grumbles coming from his stomach, lifeless.

Then they had woken up one day and the net weighted more. They had caught quite a lot of fishes. The day before they were starving, the next they had enough fish to cook a feast and have some reserve supplies.

So Sanji still had trouble believing it, even as he cooked their food. It had been a _serious_ problem, it had been haunting Sanji's nightmares and thoughts for what felt like an eternity, and now, out of the blue, it wasn't a problem anymore. His 'problems list' had suddenly become shorter. One less problem for him. Just like this. He hadn't even had time to blink.

He smiled to himself. That rock had really been cursed or something. Their odds had changed as soon as they had left it. Well, three days later and after going through _truly_ starving without any food at all, to be precise, but they had changed. And Sanji couldn't be happier.

Well, of course it wasn't _that_ easy, they still had the problem of the necessary nutrients they should be ingesting which they weren't. They had been eating only fish for the past days. Nothing else. No vegetables, fruit, meat or cereals. And Sanji, being the one in charge of healthily feeding his crew, was obviously worried because of it. They wouldn't starve but he knew their health could pay a high price if they didn't ingest something else. Images of dancing vegetables out of his reach appeared in his dreams continuously, and Sanji swore he may just have gone nuts after all.

So when they saw Terevera in the horizon, Sanji jumped in the air and yelled a relieved and victorious 'hell yeah!' along with the others. Now he could only hope it would really be an inhabited island where they could properly restock.

As for his problem with Zoro… Well, it had been weird, as expected.

They went from ignoring each other when they walked across the other to trying to get back a bit of what their relationship was and should be. Sometimes Sanji would throw a taunt and Zoro would half-assedly answer back, but the one who started the exchanges was usually Sanji. Zoro had been the one to initiate less interactions, as if he feared them.

And yes, he did fear them. As much as he was trying to get back to normal, as much as he somehow was happy every time they fell back to their antics, or something half-assedly similar to them, he still feared it. Because the kiss, Sanji's face on him, Sanji in his arms… it had all been assaulting his thoughts both when he was awake and asleep, and he was starting to freak out. When that would happen, he'd get an erection more often than not, and he definitely couldn't have that, least in front of the cook. But it kept happening.

There was this time where they had felt a bit more comfortable in the middle of an argument that had actually prospered instead of dying seconds after the first taunt had been thrown. Sanji had even dared him to fight, getting carried away by the moment, by how much he missed that kind of encounters with the swordsman. He hadn't been thinking, he was just acting out of tradition and instinct. It was pretty automatic when they weren't reminding themselves of the fact that they should restrain themselves around each other, to be honest.

Zoro hadn't thought either. He had grinned, missing it more than ever, and he had unshielded his swords. But as soon as they clashed with Sanji's sole and adrenaline kicked in like a hurricane as it always did when he fought the cook, he remembered the kiss, he remembered how it had been somehow a consequence of a fight just like the one they were starting, and Zoro froze in place and didn't react when Sanji's foot collided with his jaw and sent him flying away.

Sanji fell back to reality when he realized there was something off with the swordsman. And when he saw Zoro sitting on the grass with a confused expression which didn't fit him at all, he remembered where they stood and he remembered they were better off keeping some distance. He remembered the kiss as well. He muttered an apology and escaped to the safety of the galley to cook something for lunch. At least now he could actually cook to get distracted. Zoro had stayed there, petrified, hearing but not listening as Chopper yelled at him that they were still injured and shouldn't fight. Well, of course they shouldn't fight, he thought to himself. Because they _couldn't_. There had been a glimpse of what they used to be like and it had been a failure. Zoro couldn't fight Sanji, not without getting conflicted feelings about it, conflicted feelings that managed to invalidate his fight moves and make him useless. Which was totally unlike him and about the least convenient thing for him.

Because of that fucking kiss.

Oh, how he wished it had never happened!

Because it fucking hurt. Seeing as they _couldn't _act like they normally would. Zoro had never thought he'd miss it _so_ bad. He had never thought he'd get this frustrated because of this. He now realized Sanji and their fights and bickering had become part of his daily routine, a part he actually enjoyed even if he kept complaining and growling about it. Maybe the part of his day he used to enjoy the most, if he was honest with himself. But he couldn't do it anymore. And it was his fault.

It's not as if Sanji wasn't trying. Given sometimes he'd see the blonde obviously getting away from him and seeking some personal space away from Zoro, escaping just as the swordsman did, but there were a lot of times where he'd actively try to approach him in order to keep their promise. And there were times where Zoro would smirk and counterattack with snarls and insults, happy that he was stepping familiar ground. But sometimes, more often than not, he'd half-ass a grumbled reply that would do the trick so that he could escape because that fucking kiss was burning in his head as he talked to the blonde. Things shouldn't be this difficult, and to an outsider the situation probably looked stupid and quite immature on their side, but that's just how it was.

And the one time they had _finally_ started a fight, he had fucked up, he had gotten distracted, which was nothing like him. He had fucking bought a first class ticket to not having an opportunity like this again in a long, long time. Because, after Zoro's reaction, Sanji wouldn't try to start a fight again. He had destroyed a small spark of normality they had glimpsed for a moment. And it wouldn't come back in a while, that was a given.

Something Sanji silently agreed with. His attempt to start a fight, the way they best communicated with each other, had been a failure and utterly humiliating. He had seen that lost expression in Zoro's face and he swore he didn't want to see it again, because it was nothing like the badass he considered his rival to be. It had only been a moment, but it had somehow brought him back to their troublesome reality like someone had thrown freezing water in his face to wake him up.

So he went back to actively putting some distance in between them. They preferably ignored each other as they coexisted in their claustrophobic ship, and sometimes they'd spice their day up with a nerve-wrecking interaction consisting on some mocking taunt and a pissed-off reply that reminded them of what they were trying and failing to get back. A weak shadow of what they had been like with each other.

And now Zoro felt like shit because Sanji ignored him more than anything else and somehow it made him feel lonely. Especially after all the 'Sanji overdose' he'd had back in The Rock.

That fucking kiss.

It had really fucked things up.

Just as one of Sanji's biggest headaches disappeared as lots and lots of fishes filled his kitchen every day, he had to deal with the fucking tense chess match his relationship with Zoro had become. It had always been an easy relationship, where the fuck had those days gone?!

It was frustrating how they equally wanted to get away from each other forever and approach the other so that they'd get their old relationship back.

They could barely sleep. Everything had changed for them, and they didn't want to leave certain things behind. At the same time they wanted to erase some of them. Namely the kiss.

If only it hadn't happened…

So when they saw Terevera, Sanji wasn't only happy because he could finally restock and feed something decent and nutritious to his crew, but also because he'd get some real time alone. Away from the ship, away from a certain swordsman.

And for the exact same reason, Zoro was barely restraining his excitement to get out of the damn ship. After being stranded in a rock for more than a week with everyone in his crew having their nerves fried in stress and another long tense week sailing to what they could only hope would be a decent island, they all needed fresh air and the possibility of getting away from there. Zoro specially needed to get away from their cook. He kept telling himself that some time away from each other would help. They'd spend some days there, drink lots of booze and get wasted, eat like black holes and maybe find a good woman to spend the night with. When they'd come back, they'd be renewed men, the kiss would be forgotten and everything would start to _really_ go back to normal. They'd probably still need a while, but Zoro would be satisfied if only the unbearable tension they shared now would fade away. Even just a little.

"Oi, everyone, come here!" Nami called, walking to the mast, where everyone started to gather.

Zoro plopped by the mast with his arms crossed over his chest and drew his best bored expression as he waited for the witch to give orders, explain them things Zoro didn't have any interest in learning, and giving them allowances. That last part was what Zoro was here for.

"Coming, Nami-swaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!"

Zoro raised an annoyed eyebrow at a certain bastard's mating call as Sanji came like a whirlwind and showered Nami with stupid praises, his eyes turned to hearts. Zoro growled to himself. That side of the cook had always annoyed him to irrational levels.

"Idiot," he muttered, out of pure routine.

"What was that, you Neanderthal bastard?!" Sanji snapped, glowering daggers at him. Which Zoro ignored. That's as far as their daily routine exchanges went when Zoro had a saying on his own actions. Which obviously frustrated both of them to no end, because that's not how they had always worked.

"You two, shut up," Nami ordered with a threatening frown.

They didn't need to be told twice. They would have already left it at that if Nami hadn't intervened. That's how they were now.

"Luffy, get down here, dammit! I called minutes ago!" Nami yelled pointing at the top of the mast, where Luffy kept jumping from side to side and clapping like a monkey. He looked down at the redhead and pouted. She always ruined his fun.

He finally launched himself down and almost crushed Usopp in the process. Luckily, Usopp had mastered some really quick reflexes over the past years, and he got out of the way just in time to survive their captain's idiocy. It really was a matter of survival when your captain chose you as the poor soul to accidentally strangle, crush or/and beat up on a daily basis. You had to develop some kind of survival technique that would get yourself out of your captain's way every time he did something stupid that would most likely end up with you strangled, crushed or/and beaten up.

"Luffy, you almost crushed me, dammit!" Usopp complained, pointing an accusing finger at said captain.

Luffy laughed his 'shishishi' laugh and gave no fucks, as per usual. "Sorry, sorry," he apologized. Obviously without meaning it. "So! Nami, Nami, how long will it be until we get to the shore, uh, uh, uh?!"

Nami planted a hand against Luffy's cheek to get him out of her personal space, and when he didn't, she kicked his ass away from her, earning an 'ouch, you're mean' and then more irritating laughter in response. Pure routine.

"Okay, so this island is called Terevera. It's a summer island and it has quite a large population. It has lots of rural surface and a few urban centers. It's capital is Terevera City, placed by the sea; that's where we are supposedly disembarking."

"Yeah, yeah, Nami, that's veeeeeery interesting, but why don't you tell us fun things about the island? Is there anything fun to do? Are there adventurous things to do? Are there mysterious things to do? Is it a mystery island?" Luffy interrupted, once again plastered to Nami's cheek so that he could take a look at the map.

Nami frowned in annoyance. She had never had much patience.

"I was getting there, Luffy, if you'd just let me, so shut up!"

"Luffy, shut your trap, you should never interrupt a lady, dammit, what have I taught you?!" Sanji snarled by their side.

"You shut up too, Sanji."

Sanji looked at Nami with offended puppy eyes, but did as he was told.

Zoro swore he was surrounded by utter idiots.

"Terevera is a touristic island; people from all around the world travel here to spend their summer holidays since the place is known for throwing impressive parties, and… specially for the bets taking place here."

Sanji didn't miss how his beautiful angel's eyes sparkled at the mention. He knew right there and then that they had already lost Nami. As soon as they'd put a foot on that island, she'd disappear and fleece pretty much everyone in there. Well, at least they'd get out of there a huge deal richer. Hopefully. He had always trusted Nami to take good care of their money.

"The whole island is full of casinos and arenas, all kind of games take place here, people bet fortunes on the best players and the best players compete in pretty much everything they are paid for, it's crazy. The thing is that people come here to have fun and… well, become rich, I guess. For what I've read about it, Terevera is also known as the Millionaires' Paradise. There are several stories in which a man came here without a single coin in his pockets and walked out as a millionaire."

Nami's tone was intriguing and her eyes threatened to become bellis from one moment to the other. It was obviously Nami's personal paradise. The crew listened in fascination as she told them the basics they needed to know.

"So, basically, this is a fun place, right?" Luffy resumed using his simple logic thinking pattern. If what Nami is babbling about equals a fun place, then 'yay!'. He didn't care about anything else. Well, not exactly. There was something else he cared for. Greatly cared for. "Wait, is there gonna be lots of food?!"

"Yes, Luffy, there's going to be lots of food," Nami growled, gathering all her might not to punch their loud idiotic captain in the face.

"Great! I'm starving!" said captain proclaimed. "Hey, Sanji, you could cook some appetizers before we get to explore this Fun Island!"

"What the fuck, you just ate five minutes ago, Luffy!" Sanji yelled. He kicked him away from Nami because: hungry Luffy = distressed Sanji; distressed Sanji = aggressive Sanji; and, in that precise context, hungry Luffy = punch bag Luffy. Moreover, he was getting too touchy-feely with _his_ redhead and it was about time somebody put some distance in between them.

"Do we have any rules?" Zoro asked. He already knew the answer, he just wanted 'explanation time' to be over already.

"Of course you do."

"What are those?" Usopp inquired out of pure routine.

"You'll have your allowances. _But_. You are not going to waste them gambling. I don't want any of you, idiots, to waste my precious money, except for you, Robin, you can do whatever you want with it."

"Thank you, Nami," Robin chuckled as the rest of the crew whined and protested. Well, except for Sanji, who was sing-songing something idiotic like 'you are so righteous, Namiiiiii!".

Nami ended the small rebellion with a punch in the head for everyone except for Robin. She included Sanji's just because.

"Franky, you are going to have a special allowance so that you can go buy whatever you need to properly repair the Sunny, since you told me it was merely patched up. I'll inform you there's a quite recognized shipwright's guild in Terevera City in case you may want to ask for help."

"I'll check that," Franky nodded as he gave her a thumbs up.

"Let's say it's an open allowance. You'll have a starting cipher, if you need more than that you come here and tell me, then we'll discuss if it's worth enlarging it or not. But you are not taking solo decisions once the initial limit is reached, is that clear? We don't have that much money now, so we have to be careful with how we spend it."

"Roger," Franky agreed again.

"Chopper and Usopp, you'll also have special allowances for medicine and tools, since the storm made lots of those useless. It won't be as much as I gave you in the last island, but it'll have to do for now, at least until we get more funds. Are we cool?"

Both the doctor and the sniper nodded with slightly frustrated expressions.

"Sanji, you are getting a special one as well. It'll be higher than the usual one in order to restock since this time we have nothing at all. I trust you to spend it wisely, you always do, but still. Okay?"

"You are so generous, Namiiiiiiiiii!" Sanji swooned doing a small dance around her.

Zoro seriously wondered what the fuck was wrong in that idiot's brain. The more he danced around Nami like a fucking spaghetti the more things Zoro felt like murdering.

"The allowance includes your crew mates, which basically means you can ask _any_ of them, except from Franky, who'll already be busy, and obviously Robin and me, to help you carry whatever you buy."

"I'd never ask such pretty ladies to help me out with something as harsh, don't worry, Nami!"

"Hey!" Usopp protested.

"What are we, his royal pack mules?" Zoro growled, scowling at her.

"Don't scowl at Nami, bastard," Sanji threatened.

"Shut up, curly," Zoro grunted. Then looked elsewhere. He didn't want a fight. Not when they were about to finally get the fuck out of there and maybe get some peace of mind. A vague image of their kiss appeared in his mind and he quickly wiped it away with an internal snarl. That's _exactly_ why he wasn't going to engage into a fight. A public boner in the middle of a fight with that bastard wasn't in his best interests.

"But Namiiiiii…" Luffy whined. "I wanna go have fun!"

"You'll have fun later, Luffy," Nami scolded with a frown. Why the hell was everyone always complaining? Even when she was being reasonable!

"What the heck! Wait! I'm the captain! I can do whatever I want!" Luffy suddenly proclaimed, as if he had just realized. Which he probably had. Sanji guessed the poor guy was so used to obeying Nami's orders that he sometimes forgot it was his job to give them. "Somebody else helps Sanji!"

Luffy crossed his arms in satisfaction like the mature adult he was.

Usopp raised an outraged hand.

"Wait, this is not fair!"

"I swear, if I hear one more complaint, you will all be put on watch duty without any allowances!" Nami yelled as she punched Usopp's head as a preventive measure. She didn't particularly enjoy mutinies and she wasn't about to tolerate one now.

Everyone closed their mouths with a loud 'clack' and Zoro restrained himself from calling her 'bossy witch'. Which he totally thought she was. Damn that witch and her threats. He scowled in annoyance. Thanks fuck he was getting out of there soon enough. Or else he'd start cutting heads off. Starting with a certain blonde's, see if he could get some peace of mind. And swiftly followed by the witch's.

"So!" Nami resumed with a firm tone. "Sanji, you can ask _anyone_ you want to help you out."

She looked around her, daring her crew mates to object a single thing. No one did.

"Okay, now, everything's been said. Don't cause ruckus, be careful with the money I'm giving you and behave. Are we all clear?"

"Yes, ma'am," they all agreed with about the same enthusiasm as Luffy showed when facing a meal solely made of vegetables.

"Great, we're getting there in about an hour."

_Thanks fuck_, Zoro thought.

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Terevera's streets were colorful and busy with people wandering pretty much in every direction. And, well, there were all kinds of people. Literally, every fashion style could be seen in there, every grade of social status mixed together in the same crowded space. Nobody cared. They all knew the same rusty and poor-looking old man they had just walked by could be a millionaire tomorrow. They all knew the same smart-looking millionaire they had just bowed to could be a homeless bankrupt man the day after. Social status and power were pretty ephemeral in Terevera. Unless you knew how to keep them. Unless you knew how to escalate and never fall a step back. That's how big names had appeared in a country where fame and wealth were short-lived. That's how some people had defied the natural course of events and become a stable social figure people would always bow to. Because they knew those special people were still going to be rich the day after, and probably even richer in a week.

Sanji walked with his mouth agape through Terevera City's streets, staring in awe at the myriad of stores filling up every single street and corner. All kind of products and services were offered, shown and promoted, they were all claimed to be the best of the best, the most special articles in the whole market. And people bought them without as much as thinking twice. If something was the best of something, they had to have it. Their money was short-lived, so they'd rather spend it, that was the general line of thought. That's how that country had become a crazily rich one.

And, God, the prices were just as crazy. Sanji stared in horror at the price a man was selling oranges at, which he had been planning to buy for his dear Nami since her trees had been damaged by the storm and wouldn't be producing healthy oranges in a while. His allowance couldn't cover those prices, not if he wanted to fully restock, which they urgently needed, not even with his enlarged allowance. Damn, if he didn't find a cheaper market, he'd need to negotiate with Nami so that she'd give him a bigger amount of dispensable bellis, and he had a personal problem with having to ask women for favors. He never asked them favors, he was the one to offer them, that's what a gentleman did. A brief flash of how he had 'gentlemanly' let Nami get hurt a few weeks ago froze him in place. Sanji forcefully shook his head, hoping to shake his paranoia and guilt away with the gesture.

"Oi, Usopp, let's try and get somewhere less centric, see if we find cheaper prices," he said, his voice coming out slightly strained.

When he didn't get an answer, he turned around and saw Usopp staring at a weird technological tool that was doing something equally weird as it rotated over itself, which ended up creating a perfect precise star-shaped hole on an iron plank. Sanji firstly blinked at the now still tool and its achievement, then at Usopp's idiotic face as he stared at the invention in disbelief with the clear intention of buying it at any price written in his eyes.

"No way," Sanji growled as he snatched Usopp's elbow and pulled him behind him and away from the damn expensive temptation. Usopp whined and yelled a bit, but soon stopped his rebellious outbreak as Sanji glowered daggers at him.

"We need to get to a cheaper part of the city," Sanji repeated when Usopp had finally consented to walk by his side without the need of Sanji aggressively pulling him through the streets.

"Why?"

"Haven't you seen the prices? It's crazy, how are we supposed to afford any of that?" Sanji groaned, looking at Usopp as if he was an idiot. The sniper had probably been so enamored by the amount of crazy tools and inventions exposed that he hadn't noticed the prices attached to them. "With the current allowance Nami has generously given to me, I'm not even going to be able to restock half of what I had planned."

Usopp looked at Sanji's winded up expression and then took a look at the first display window they passed by to check his statement. His eyeballs almost fell from their sockets.

"Damn, Sanji, this is crazy!" he screeched.

"That toy you were adoring before would have cost you your whole allowance and a kidney at the very least."

"Oh, but it was amazing, I had never seen such precision! Not even Franky's tools are as precise!" Usopp protested, as if the stupidly high price of that invention was wholly justified because of it.

"Bring Franky here tomorrow, show him the toy, he'll have it built in less than two days for you to play with, and it'll definitely be better," Sanji replied with a raised eyebrow. He was most likely right. Let the cyborg see the concept, let him see how the tool works, he'll have it bettered in a few days. Then that initial tool will lose all value in the market. That's what their cyborg shipwright was capable of doing.

Usopp nodded to himself, apparently convinced and already planning when and how to take Franky there. Because he definitely wanted that tool in his life. Sanji, who was a romantic, could recognize the special spark of falling in love in anybody's eyes. Leave it to Usopp to fall in love with a tool, machine, crazily innovative invention, whatever you wanted to call it.

Sanji spotted a narrower street opening at the right side of the avenue they were wandering through and guided them there.

"There sure is a lot of people who don't exactly look like they can pay for these products," Usopp commented as they crossed a drugged up guy who wasn't even wearing shoes. He looked like he hadn't taken a bath or properly eaten in quite a lot of time.

"Well, there's a lot of people who come here having absolutely nothing in hopes of becoming rich, or something. And I bet not everybody gets lucky here," Sanji opined. "And I can guarantee there's quite a lot of rich idiots who are stupid enough as to come here being the richest men of the island and leaving with nothing else than their pants on. But the products they sell here are not for those kind of people. Vendors here don't sell their products to the poor, they know there's always a large frame of rich people who can afford their prices, so they go for it."

"Well, we can't."

"Not here in the city center, that's for sure," Sanji agreed. That's why they were getting the hell out of there, see if they found some peripheral district where people hadn't lost their minds and prices were reasonable.

Which they found after more than a half an hour walk. There actually were some scattered shops here and there in the peripheral areas where prices were less crazy than they were in the center. They were still pretty expensive but, as far as they had checked, their eyeballs were yet to fall from their sockets again. It still was going to make things difficult as Sanji's allowance wouldn't do to completely restock, but if he managed to buy in the right places he may be able to get more than half what he had planned.

Usopp's help became unnecessary as Sanji limited his grocery shopping to a few necessary ingredients for the following dinner and breakfast so that they'd have something to eat until Sanji spoke to Nami about his problem and possibly earned a larger allowance to fully restock, which he dreaded to ask for.

When they came back to the ship it was almost evening. Sanji had one bag in his hand and Usopp had another, not that Sanji couldn't carry the two of them, but Usopp insisted in making himself useful since Sanji had chosen him as the poor soul to accompany him and then found out he really wasn't needed this time round.

"Is everyone here?" Sanji asked when Nami walked to them with a curious expression after seeing what a small package they were carrying.

"Except from Franky, Zoro and Luffy. They should be coming back in an hour, that's what we all agreed," she answered while eyeing the bags they held. "You haven't bought much."

"Have you seen the prices?" Usopp exclaimed.

Nami nodded with a disgusted frown that clearly meant she wasn't the least big happy about the prices subject.

"I have," she commented. "We'll have to think of something and earn some money. They'll regret putting these prices."

Sanji smiled at her frowning expression, which he had always found kind of adorable. It was almost funny how Nami could get incredibly concerned about money, and her pouts were gold to Sanji, who didn't seem to find one bad angle on the redhead.

"I'll be starting dinner, mellorine, is that okay with you?" he swooned.

"Yes, of course, go ahead," she waved him off and went back inside, probably in order to keep their accounts balanced or something like that. It definitely had something to do with money. That was a given.

She looked much better than she had done in days and she actually looked as if she was regaining her health back.

Sanji smiled all the way back to the galley and then started to cook their stewed dinner as soon as Usopp left him alone. Getting out of that claustrophobic ship and actually being able to wander around inhabited land was really some good fresh air he had needed. Now he felt a little bit more relieved and a whole deal less tense and permanently annoyed. He'd had the chance to see pretty ladies all around, he had flirted with the woman selling tomatoes as Usopp glared annoyed daggers at him, and he had been able to actually buy good food he was now able to cook for his crew, who would be finally ingesting what they needed. It wasn't as much as he had wanted at all, but it still was something, and he knew Nami would find a way to make them all rich and bathe in food supplies in less than three days. He trusted his redhead.

_The one you couldn't protect_, his brain reminded him. Sanji rolled his eyes at himself and let out a pissed off growl. He needed to get over that already. Things with Zoro had really been fucked up, but one thing the swordsman had managed to do right before it had all been sent to hell had been to open Sanji's eyes to the stupidity of loathing himself for something that wasn't entirely his fault and that hadn't had major consequences. Nami was still with them after all. But his brain liked it the hard way, it seemed, so he had to deal with it reminding him every now and then of the reason behind all their latest disgraces. Wasn't his brain helpful.

It had gotten better, though. There were still pangs of guilt in his chest when he thought of it, but they were slowly fading and they weren't as constant. He definitely could shoo them away much easier now.

By the time he finished the most elaborate meal he had cooked in weeks, Sanji felt finally satisfied with himself and was in a much better mood since cooking always made him happy and this time he had been able to actually put his chef skills to use by making something sophisticated and nutritious for his crew.

As they all gathered in the galley after Sanji had invited the lovely ladies in and yelled at the smelly bastards of the crew to get the fuck there already, his crewmates grew incredulous and pleased expressions at the feast Sanji had just served. Sanji couldn't help but grin at the sight. Cooking was by far one of the greatest pleasures in the world but, hey, having people admiring and loving his work was just as great if not better. It was always nice to see a grateful and satisfied face after his meal had worked his magic. That's what made him the happiest. More than the cooking process itself, even if he enjoyed every second of it. Luffy's astonished face at the huge amounts of meat made Sanji chuckle. Luffy could be a pain in the ass when it came to food, but he definitely was the most grateful one about it without really saying a thing. Which always managed to force a smile on the crew's chef, even when he kept scolding his captain about his black hole-like manners.

"Meat feaaaaaaaaaaaaaaast!" Luffy hollered over everyone else. Sanji kicked him right in the face just in time to avoid the premature destruction of his hard-work.

"Let everyone sit down before trying to swallow it all, idiot!" Sanji yelled with his leg still in the air. For the sake of routine and tradition. But there was the shadow of a smile under his scowl and threatening glare.

And so they sat down and ate everything Sanji had prepared. For the first time in weeks Sanji felt accomplished with his work. He was finally feeding his crew all the nutrients they needed, and Luffy was even enjoying the veggies.

And Zoro was seemingly enjoying the onigiri given the fact that he had sacked the whole onigiri plate without a word. Not that he'd ever praise Sanji's efforts, but Sanji could tell when something especially pleased the stoic swordsman. He _really_ tried not to stare at him too much as the green haired man ate the onigiri he had carefully prepared, but he had apparently lost the reigns of his eyes' will. He would've teased him about the whole eating-like-there-was-no-tomorrow thing, but he told himself to shut the fuck up and instead settled for discretely throwing glances at Zoro as he ate, wondering what was going through the other's mind. He had cooked each member's favourite plate aside of the main ones without giving it much thought, but now his traitorous brain cells smirked at him as he realized he had prepared Zoro's favourite dish and was actually getting too much satisfaction out of watching him eat it with what the swordsman thought was invisible delight. For a moment he had feared that Zoro wouldn't present himself to dinner that night, but he had been proven wrong. Apparently, Zoro's new-found allergy to him wasn't _that_ severe.

"Okay, guys, time for business," Nami declared when they finished their desserts and Sanji was starting to serve coffees and teas for those who wanted some. A weird and yet familiar scene they hadn't relived for a while now.

Everyone set their eyes on the redhead, Sanji babbled some bullshit to her that Zoro was sure would make his ears bleed, and then they all hushed and paid attention to the demanding navigator who had just punched Sanji in the head for being too loud around her.

"I guess you have already noticed, but we have a bit of a problem here," Nami started with a serious expression that had everyone listening. "The prices in Terevera are too high for us to do what we need to do. Franky, Sanji, care to explain our problem?"

Franky nodded and then shrugged, a vague frown of worry tinting his features. Sanji could tell he wasn't going to lose sleep over it, but the matter still visibly bugged his blue haired friend.

"I went to the shipwright's guild today and asked for materials' prices and all the technical stuff that we need. The fact is that we were able to patch up the ship back in The Rock, which is great, but it still needs a_ real_ reparation if we want it to last more than a month without it falling to pieces. I brought some super cool guild members here so that they could take a look at it and they all agreed with me that the Sunny can be repaired and back in shape, but there is a lot of specific work to do and a lot of special materials we need. Which basically means that the whole reparation would cost us five times the allowance that Nami had originally planned to spend on it, which was already pretty high. Which is obviously kind of problematic," he explained with a relaxed pose but a serious business tone.

Zoro raised both his eyebrows at this. Well, that was _a lot_ of money they were talking about. The prices there were absurd. Zoro had wandered until he had ended up in a rusty tavern that afternoon, and he had found himself with a bill capable of making him wish he had two good eyes to double-check it because a damn ale couldn't cost this much. Which annoyed him quite _a lot_, to be honest. He had been waiting for some nice booze for what felt like ages and now he couldn't afford it. It wasn't only his problem, though, as it seemed everyone had faced the same luck.

"Same with the food. I could only buy what we needed for some meals but in order to fully restock we'd need much more than we have. I've managed to find an area in the city in which prices are still high but not crazy, with which I would be able to restock more than half of what we have to. Which is good news, but it still presents a problem, since we _really_ need to restock fully this time" Sanji agreed, nodding at Franky and Nami.

"It's the same with the booze," Zoro intervened with an annoyed scowl. He really felt like he should voice his indignation out loud because, what the hell, that was the craziest price he had ever paid for damn mediocre booze!

"The booze is not the problem here," Nami snapped at him.

Zoro scowled at her and then proceeded to shut up again. It's not like he had much else to say. This island was shitty and he didn't like it. End of. He hadn't even needed to wander for too long across the streets. It was better than The Rock, but still a stupid island. Why the hell couldn't he get the booze he had wanted so much for a _reasonable_ price? What a pain in the ass! What was he supposed to do now that the taverns and the inns were not an option? He couldn't even afford a night out of that ship, and that's exactly what he craved for! He looked at the wall in front of him with resentment. The odds weren't in his favour lately. The ship felt, _again_, claustrophobic.

Zoro casted a discreet glance at Sanji, who was seemingly relaxed as he watched the redhead with a thoughtful expression. Why the fuck was Sanji so calm when Zoro was about to get driven up the wall? It was totally unfair! He had really hoped for some alone time with his booze in a tavern away from the ship and _Sanji_ and now he found out that he couldn't afford it. Great, just great! Zoro scowled yet again at nothing in particular. His previous excitement for getting to the island earlier that day had turned into a legitimate sour mood.

"What do you suggest we do?" Robin asked as nobody seemed to know what to comment or say. They had all seen the prices and they had all known that would mean Nami would be in a bad mood, which only meant bad news.

But instead of showing them her annoyance, Nami smirked with a smart glint tinting her eyes. Oh, yeah, _definitely_ bad news. Zoro restrained a groan and readied himself for whatever her twisted brain had come up with.

"Well," she started, her smile getting the attention of everyone in the room. It was the cunning one, the one that told them she had some master plan in the stove. "Tonight Robin and I will wander around Terevera City in order to spot the best clubs, betting shops and casinos there might be. You men stay here because you are all idiots and you would only manage to make me lose money if nobody is directing you around, not to mention you'll cause ruckus. Today it's inspection night. While we are at it, we'll fill our pockets with as much money as we can. _And_. Tomorrow night you must all be prepared because we are _all_ going out clubbing."

"YAY!" Luffy yelled with his fists reaching the ceiling.

"Do I look like I want to go clubbing?" Zoro growled in annoyance.

"No, but you look like you want to obey and come with us because what we are basically going to do is get this city's clubs and casinos bankrupt," Nami retorted with an almighty grin.

They all fell silent as they watched their redhead's brain gears work inside her head. Zoro rolled his eyes. Luffy grinned, Robin chuckled and the rest smirked in recognition. If someone could get a casino bankrupt it was Nami. Add the whole Strawhat crew under her orders and the spotted casinos and clubs in Terevera were doomed.

"Nami, you are so smart! That is _such_ a good idea!" Sanji cooed like an idiot.

"So there's going to be a party?" Chopper exclaimed with excitement written all over his furry lovely face.

"I approve!" Luffy declared with a victorious grin and his fist introduced to the table. "It means meat feast! And I want to go partying with you all!"

"How the hell does that mean meat feast?" Sanji groaned with a frustrated look directed at him. Hadn't he just made a meat feast for his captain? It wasn't even ten minutes ago and he was already thinking of another one.

"Well, if Nami makes us rich it means we can buy lots of meat!" Luffy reasoned as if Sanji was an idiot. Holy patience. The chef gathered every last bit of it to abstain himself from even answering.

Zoro couldn't help a sigh. Well, it could have been worse. It wasn't the worst thing she could have asked of them. He already knew what she got like when it came to money, that bossy witch. The memory of how she had put them all in the whole Alabasta mess back in the moment she had heard there was a reward to help Vivi out plopped in his mind. So, yeah, it could have been worse. This time it was just clubbing and helping her get the money.

"Robin, Usopp and I will be the main players. The rest can do your thing as long as you don't waste my money. I trust you all to know how to hold your ground fairly well, but your main role is to back us up both tactically and physically in case anything went wrong. The big games and bets are for us three."

They all nodded. They knew who their key players were. Not that the rest were bad at this kind of stuff, except from Luffy, who was a total disaster, but if somebody could make them rich it was that particular trio and their cunning/cheating/tactical tricks.

"There's more to it," Nami added when she made sure everyone was cool with it. Not that she would have given them an alternative if they weren't.

Zoro froze in place. He had a bad feeling about this.

"It only concerns two of you."

A _really_ bad feeling about this.

Nami's eyes bore into his and Zoro knew he was one of the poor souls chosen to satisfy Nami's money cravings. Then her gaze fell on Sanji, and Zoro felt like throwing himself off the ship and drown before he could hear anything else she had to say. _Really_?! What the fuck was his luck!

"Sanji and Zoro, listen because you two are key into making us rich, so you better do your job well."

Zoro tried not to groan. Sanji didn't bother to hide a grimace as he realized what Nami was implying. Whatever it was she was asking for, she wanted them to do it together. About the _last_ thing they felt like doing right now.

"Wait, what? Why only Sanji and Zoro?" Luffy complained. "I also want to be in their team, whatever they are doing! Unless it is some boring chore, then they can do it without me."

"Luffy, shut up," Nami warned with a raised finger. Luffy pouted but did as he was told. The redhead fixed both their swordsman and chef with a cunning stare and a calculating smirk.

Zoro prayed to anything there was out there for her to shut her mouth. She didn't.

"There is a tournament the day after tomorrow in one of the most important arenas of this country. It's a team tournament in which the fighters pair up, it's basically two vs two. The strongest fighters around gather there and fight in rounds for the victor's prize, which is astronomical. It's money we need, may I remind you before you start complaining. So, basically, I signed both of you up for it. You're a team and you'll be competing for my money."

Zoro stared at her in disbelief. Sanji blinked sharply, as if he hadn't understood Nami's words. At some point steel and deep ocean blue met in a helpless lock.

Their odds _did_ hate them.

**TBC**

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**A/N: **Hi there! Welcome to Terevera! :)

So, this is a new step in the story, from now on things will be much different than they were in The Rock and Zoro and Sanji will have to sort things out in a much more active context, which is making me excited to write this! I really hope you like it and if you have time just let me know what you think, it always helps!

Big hug, see you in the next chapter!

P.S. Nami just got them into a tight spot hehehe


	20. Chapter 20 - Cave In

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**Chapter 20**

**Cave In**

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"Wait a moment, what! What do you mean you've signed them up for a tournament, Nami, you traitor! What about me!? I also want to be in that fighting tournament kicking asses!" Luffy yelled across the table as he proceeded to invade their navigator's personal space with what had to be the ultimate version of a betrayed and outraged expression contorting his face. "Why did you sign up Zoro and Sanji and not Zoro and me, or Sanji and _me_?!"

"Shut up!" Nami yelled, a frown starting to form. When their captain didn't back down, she punched him hard in the face, earning an outraged yelp and an overdose of whining. "I said shut up!"

"But, Nami, it's not faaaaaaaaaaaair!" Luffy sobbed in the corner he had been sent flying to. "What about me?!"

"These two idiots are the best match we have when it comes to a fighting duo if they behave and cooperate, and you know it, Luffy, so stop being a little brat about it!" Nami counterattacked with a threatening finger pointed at Luffy. Why the hell was their captain so difficult?

"So what! I wanna fight!"

"'So what', you say?" Nami lowered her voice with a scowl. Only to immediately turn it into her trademark deafening screech. "What do you mean, 'so what', it's my money we are talking about, you idiot! Do I look like I'm gonna risk a single beli?!"

"It's unfair!" Luffy dared to oppose with an accusing glare.

"Well, too bad you don't get to decide what's fair and what's not when it comes to money! Now shut up!" Nami replied with a punch on his head.

"You're bossy and unfair…" the rubber boy muttered with a defeated pout as he nursed the bump that was starting to form on his head.

"Oi, I want everyone out of the kitchen."

Nami turned a surprised face to Zoro, who had stood up and wore a serious no-bullshit expression. Everyone's attention fell on him as they blinked at the swordsman.

"I said I want you all to get your asses out of here," Zoro repeated with a scowl. "Except for the sea witch and the shit cook."

Sanji paled as he felt himself stuck to his seat, wondering what the hell Zoro was doing. He had tuned down the whole argument between his captain and navigator as he wrapped his head around the fact that he was utterly fucked if he had to fight _with_ Zoro _as a team_, that until Zoro's baritone got him out of his daze with an order he was pretty sure he didn't like one bit. He was severely tempted to just stand up and leave with the rest.

"What the hell, Zoro! Now you want to have private reunions?! Why are you excluding me?!" Luffy snapped with a childish offended glare tinting his features.

"Luffy, get the fuck out of here," Zoro ordered with a tougher tone.

Luffy frowned at him and was about to object when Usopp grabbed his arm and started dragging him outside.

"Luffy, for God's sake, shut up just this once and come with me," he muttered by his ear as he managed to take a quick pace and get their captain out of the galley. Chopper gave them a worried look but left with the rest when Robin patted his hat as she passed him by.

When the galley door had closed behind his retreating crewmates, Sanji tore his gaze from the interesting surface of the table and finally looked at the pair of people he was stuck with. Ah, damn, why so much trouble in his life?

Nami was giving Zoro an unimpressed look with her arms crossed in front of her chest, a raised eyebrow in place. Zoro was glowering daggers at her. Sanji would have told him off for his rudeness, but he didn't even have the strength to do it. He was already dreading this shitty situation. He wished the ground would split and swallow him away from it. That sounded inviting, definitely better than the scene he was witnessing.

Zoro opened his clenched mouth and spoke. He sounded calm when he did so. He was feeling just the opposite.

"I'm not doing it."

Nami snorted.

"Did I sound as if I was giving you a choice?"

"I don't give a fuck. I'm not teaming up with him. And I'm not doing this shit. It's not as if you don't know thousands of dirty tricks to make us rich overnight. Isn't that your specialty?"

"Not exactly. There's something I'm better at, you know," she answered with a smirk. "I haven't checked your debts in a while, Zoro, do you remember how high they were?"

Zoro felt anger boiling inside of him. He swallowed hard.

"In case you don't, let me remind you they were astronomic," she resumed. "But. They are nothing compared to what they'll be like if you refuse. I'm _the best_ when it comes to jumbling with interests, you should know that by now."

"You really are a witch," Zoro snarled as a vein popped in his forehead.

"I'll introduce my foot to your teeth if you ever talk to her like that again," Sanji growled from his seat. It sounded half-assed since he was pretty tired of the whole thing and only wanted to disappear, but he was dead serious and Zoro knew it. Not that it prevented him from glaring hard at the cook.

"So what? You _want_ to do this?" Zoro snapped with a deep scowl. He sounded threatening.

Sanji ignored him.

"Nami, darling, I really think it would be a better idea to have this idiot paired up with Luffy, or me with Luffy if you want to have the best of us two in the team."

"Who the fuck are you saying is the best of us two, curly-brow?!"

"What, Sanji, are you against my idea?" Nami pouted, closing the distance between her and Sanji with pleading eyes.

May God punish him for having this thought cross his mind, but Sanji swore women were his perdition. Damn it. Damn him for being unable to resist that beautiful face.

Zoro saw the hesitation cross Sanji's face and… something else. Something not quite far away from defeat as Sanji realized he was an easy prey… as he realized his own fatal feebleness, the one that had pretty much started everything that had led to the current mess of a situation they were stuck in. Zoro felt himself snapping as he pointed a blunt angry finger at the idiot they had for a cook.

"Don't you dare give in, you bastard!"

"Oh, come on, Sanji, aren't you even going to do it for me?" Nami complained with a reproving look that had Sanji at the brink of turning into a puddle of apologies. Then she changed her expression into a warm persuading smile. "You will be doing a great favor to the crew and you'll make _me_ really, really happy!"

That witch.

Zoro groaned in despair. He couldn't exactly oppose her since his solvency was at stake, but Sanji could. If Sanji said no, they'd both be freed from the utter bullshit they'd been dragged into by the damn redhead. But, of course, Sanji's final answer was:

"Don't worry, mellorine, anything to make you happy!"

Zoro face-palmed.

Sanji. Was. An. Idiot.

"Yay! Thanks, Sanji, you are so cool!" Nami cheered as she gave him a rewarding tight hug.

Something was off though. Zoro couldn't help but raise his frustrated angry face when he didn't hear mating calls in response and he couldn't help but blink in disbelief when he didn't see Sanji's eyes turned into hearts but just a warm forced smile as he carefully hugged her back.

Then Nami separated from him and patted his shoulder.

"Great, then! I'm going to tell the others that the plan is on! Be prepared!" she happily announced. Then left the galley faster than a whirlwind. She spared a triumphant smirk at Zoro, who kept blinking at Sanji's defeated form sat on his chair.

Zoro wanted to yell at the bastard that he was an idiot, Zoro wanted to start a fight and seriously beat the crap out of Sanji, but he didn't find it in him to do so as he stared at the blonde with incredulous eyes. Dammit, was that defeated Sanji he had just seen there? What the hell, hadn't he just fixed him the day they had fucking ended up kissing?! What was the damn kiss worth if he hadn't at least managed to fix what he had been trying to fix all along?!

Oh, well, great question, actually.

His thoughts were interrupted when Sanji let out a tired frustrated sigh and stood up, rubbing his face with contemtion.

"Ugh, sorry about that," he groaned.

Zoro blinked again. No, it wasn't _that_ kind of defeated Sanji. It was different. There was no unnecessary tortured attitude in there. More like frustrated defeat. Okay, so maybe he had managed to _kind of_ fix what he had wanted to, that was definitely good. But maybe there were still remnants of something deeper inside of Sanji. Something he had realized when everything had started, back when Nami had gotten seriously hurt and he hadn't been able to protect her. Something just as coming to terms with the fact that he had an _immense_ weakness he couldn't afford but he still couldn't get over it. A weakness that conditioned him and limited his will and potential. Something he had just been reminded of right now when Nami had turned what otherwise would have been a firm, impulsive and final negative into frustrated acceptance.

Agh, damn.

"Oi…"

"Make sure you don't get in my way in the shitty tournament, Marimo," Sanji cut him as he half-assedly bumped his shoulder against Zoro's for the sake of tradition. Then he left Zoro alone in the galley with a lot of unspoken words fighting to get out of his now closed mouth as his only company.

Agh.

_Damn_.

* * *

"So, how did it go?" asked Robin.

Nami looked at her and sighed, sitting by the older woman's side in her bed.

"They accepted."

Robin discretely raised an eyebrow. "Willingly?"

"Nah, of course not. I had to threaten Zoro and persuade Sanji. A classic. Nothing new."

"But they finally agreed to do it?"

"They weren't the least happy about it and I don't know how it will turn out, but they did, yes."

"That's good."

Robin stood up and Nami followed her graceful figure with distracted pensive eyes as the black haired woman walked around the room to choose a dress for that night. Robin chose a stunning purple piece and gave it an approving look, then turned to Nami with an expression that invited her to speak her thoughts out loud. Nami swore the woman could read minds as she had been about to open her mouth to do so.

"Do you think it will work?"

Robin titled her head and spoke with a soft tone. "Does it worry you?"

Nami pouted and considered denying it as she always did but ended up shrugging and looking to the side.

"Kind of. They had always been ready to throw themselves at each other's jugular but it was the good kind of rivalry, we all know they'd be right beside the other if one of them needed so, but… Now it's just weird, I don't know what went wrong in The Rock but there's something off and I'm afraid it might explode, and this time it'll get serious."

Robin smirked and Nami blinked in surprise at her reaction.

"I do believe that it has already exploded, though," the older woman opined. "They are just dealing with the aftermath, I think the worst has already passed."

"Is that the reason why you thought that forcing them together as a team would end up well?" Nami asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Let me correct you here, _you_ had the idea to force them to team up so that they'd earn your money. I just contributed with a little input," Robin remarked with an amused chuckle that had Nami's cheeks burning in embarrassment.

"I wasn't just thinking about the money when I signed them up," she defended herself.

"I know," Robin reassured her. "Don't worry, I think it will be good if they are forced to cooperate, they'll also be forced to face whatever is going on between them and deal with it instead of avoiding the whole issue and each other. It was a good thing that you signed them up together."

Nami sighed in slight relief. She still wasn't sure it would go as smooth as Robin was putting it; it was Sanji and Zoro they were talking about. The chances that something went wrong in their short fueled interactions were huge, especially when tension between them could be cut with a knife and be served into plates, but it would have happened sooner or later and the later it happened the worse it would have been. Moreover, those two worked their best under pressure. And there'd be lots of pressure in that tournament.

"There can be any kind of outcome, really, but I have a feeling that it won't be bad. Whatever happens they'll be forced to deal with the problem they have, and that's always better than them avoiding the issue indefinitely. We all know what that kind of attitude does to them," Robin resumed as she walked to Nami and silently asked her to zip her dress by turning her back in front of her face. "Aren't you going to get dressed? I thought you were excited about tonight. It's 'search-for-preys-night', remember?"

Nami zipped Robin's dress and couldn't help but draw a predatory smirk. Oh, right. Her specialty was fleecing people. That always managed to brighten up her mood.

* * *

Zoro wandered the streets of Terevera with about the same enthusiasm as a ball of moss, a comparison Sanji would have found hilarious much to the swordsman's permanent dismay.

He had spent all day out of the ship after he had faced a grinning Nami during breakfast listing the places they'd go to that night, which had given him a headache and the sudden urge to get the fuck out of there. He didn't want to listen to Nami's plans anymore, he dreaded them, especially one regarding a certain blonde.

Sanji and him hadn't sent each other a single look that morning, neither had they expressly addressed the other, even if Nami's frowns at them were trying to urge them to do so, because she needed them to cooperate and train together or jointly think of an action plan for the tournament that would be taking place the day after. Zoro plainly ignored her and Sanji did a great job of pretending he didn't get the message she kept sending to them with glares.

Now Zoro was lost in the damned city and didn't find his way back to the ship. For first time in years, getting lost had become a useful skill. Avoiding the maximum contact possible with the cook was in order, and getting lost in Terevera while said cook was supposedly staying in the ship to rest and get ready for some action that night was a really good way to achieve it.

Zoro grunted as a wealthy looking man bumped into him and gave him a nasty look emanating superiority and despise for someone as shabby-looking as Zoro. The swordsman glared daggers at the idiot in question and the man almost pissed his pants and got away from him. Zoro was sure that the bastard would have lost all of his money by dawn. He definitely looked like the kind of idiot who'd manage to do that.

"Hey there, handsome!"

He didn't pay any attention to the voice until a delicate hand got a stronger grasp than expected of his elbow. Zoro turned with a scowl to face a stunning brunette smiling her brightest smile at him. He didn't need more than a quick look to determine that the woman was a prostitute. A definitely refined and elegant one, dressed to provoke the richest pockets, nothing too revealing or explicitly tempting. It was her stance and smile that told Zoro what he needed to know rather than the clothes she wore.

"What," he friendly replied.

"Just wondering if a fit man like yourself would care to have some fun with someone feeling as lonely as me," she beamed, her silky tone suggesting all kind of forbidden things.

Well, she knew how to slay her job. And she truly looked _amazing_. Not many women could stand their ground next to _that_ beauty. He had the feeling that if Robin ever _cared_ to try, she'd eat the brunette barbecued and still have place in her stomach for desert, though. But, well, Robin was Robin.

"I don't think so," he grunted as he turned to walk away. Not that he hadn't been enjoying the view. As stoic and undaunted as he was, he was a man and he definitely could appreciate a good view when he was presented with it. And that woman _was _a view herself.

"Oh, come on, sweetie, you look like you need to relieve some stress," she taunted as she started walking by his side. To her credit, she didn't try to hang her hand in Zoro's arm. He would have tossed it away and she knew it. She knew what she was doing.

"Not interested."

"Aren't you?" she asked with a frankly surprised expression as she studied Zoro's stone-like face. "Do you like men, then? The place I work in has some really fit men if you are interested-"

"I don't fucking like men!" Zoro yelled as he stopped in his tracks and fixed her with a murderous glare. She didn't even flinch. Damn, not only was she annoying and smart and knew how to perfectly behave according to the situation, she was also brave.

Zoro was officially angry now. He had never _ever_ had a problem with homosexuals whatsoever; he liked people to leave him alone and so he did just the same. Damn, he had even had one or two drunk encounters with men some years back, not more than kissing and _maybe_ a rough hand job, but his potential attraction to men or, more precisely, to a particular blonde man, was a pretty sensitive topic right now and the spark was easily ignited. Why was the world conspiring against him?!

"Sorry about that," the brunette chuckled, not showing any signs of being offended by Zoro's reaction. "It's not as if it would have been a bad thing if that had been the case. It would have only been a shame for me since I wouldn't be in the potential scope of your choice."

Zoro gave her an unimpressed look when she winked.

"I don't have anything against people liking their same sex," he stoically declared. And he didn't. To be fair, he couldn't care less about sex or sexual preferences. Why he felt the need to justify his reaction, though, he didn't know; he had always been the kind who didn't give a flying fuck about what others thought of him or might interpret he had said. Sanji's image as he kissed him plopped in his mind and earned himself a mental slap. Fuck.

The brunette shrugged it off.

"So, why aren't you even considering a short walk with me then? Am I unattractive to you?" she teased with a smile that didn't give anything away asides from amusement.

Zoro realized he had been standing there in the middle of the street letting the woman get him to talk back to her and he scowled deeper and resumed walking away. He wasn't the least bit surprised when the woman popped by his side at his same fast pace without effort.

"Leave me alone," he growled.

"I would if you didn't look as if you _want_ to cave in."

Zoro stopped in his tracks yet again and sent her a confused and pissed off look. What was she playing at? What was she implying?

"I don't want to-"

"Come on, sweetheart, it's my job to tell people's moods and you _want_ to cave in. Walking away is your way of telling yourself that you 'shouldn't', but I do believe I'd earn myself some easy money if I bet that there's a tiny little voice in your head telling you to fuck it all and go for it."

Zoro blinked at her. Her green eyes were piercing his soul and he could only hope he didn't look as disarmed as he felt right now.

"Who do you want to forget?" she asked with a soft voice.

Zoro snapped out of it and snarled at her.

"No one. I don't have any money to pay you with anyways so go look for another prey."

Then he stomped away feeling angry as ever. Not at her really, but at himself. Why did her words affect him so much? And why the fuck had Sanji's face freely walked through his brain when she had asked him who he wanted to forget?

He was ready to kill someone when the brunette appeared by his retreating side again as if she wasn't turning his brain into a hellish place.

"Oh, am I wrong then? I'm surprised, I would have sworn you needed to get rid of someone's memory. My guess skills aren't as good as I thought, I suppose."

"Go away."

"What is it, then? You don't look like the type to engage in serious relationships, but I've seen weirder. Do you have a girlfriend?"

"No."

"Oh, really? I'm running out of options here…" she pouted. She walked faster when Zoro did, not showing signs of getting tired. Zoro was almost running. "Is it that you are in love with someone? No need for it to be your girlfriend, there are lots of people who feel like they should be faithful to the person they love even if they aren't in a relationship with them, but let me tell you, honey, there's nothing wrong with having some fun in the meanti-"

"_No!_" Zoro aggressively turned to her yet again and his face got so near hers that their noses almost touched. "I'm _not_ in love with anyone!" he yelled. And he sounded _desperate_.

The brunette blinked at him with a mere surprised expression on. She should have been terrified by Zoro's reaction and murderous aura, but she was merely surprised. And her eyes lit up as if she had understood something he hadn't. Her hand suddenly went to his cheek and softly caressed it without giving Zoro time to react before it retreated.

"Don't worry, babe, it has never been easy for anyone," she stated with a caring tone that had Zoro puzzled and unable to come up with an answer.

What?

The woman's face changed to draw an inviting warm smile that would have dazzled more men and women than one could count before losing track. Zoro didn't register it as he kept looking at her in the eyes, his brain totally uncooperative.

"You know what, I'll give you my contact card. It's up to you if you want or need to use it, but I do bet that you will," she cheekily grinned. "I'm here for everything you may need, I'll just let you know I am the best when it comes to make people forget, so I _can_ help you. Don't worry about the price, we'll sort it out, this is Terevera after all."

Zoro found himself with a card in his hand and a pair of delicate hands closing his around the luxurious piece of paper.

"Just promise me you'll consider it," she insisted with her most seductive yet innocent smile. How did she do that?

Zoro didn't answer.

She simply smiled wider. Then she turned to leave and Zoro's gaze was fixed on her discretely waving hips as she walked away. He shouldn't have been surprised when she turned to him once more before definitely leaving; they always did that. How would he call it? Ah, right, dramatic effect.

"By the way, you are far too young to have a scowl permanently imprinted on your face."

Zoro blinked again and watched her get lost in the middle of the crowd.

What. The. Fuck. Had. That. Been.

Zoro looked at the card he was still keeping in his hand. There was the name of a place written in it. _Dusky Nights_. He absently took a look at the back of the card and found another name.

_Aila_.

As he stared at the name for what felt like ages, he vaguely wondered why he was feeling that he actually wanted to cave in. Hell, it's not as if he hadn't thought (for days) of spending a nice relieving night with a woman once they docked but, just as soon as he had been offered that possibility, he had silently come to the conclusion that he shouldn't, that he couldn't. And yet something inside him told him that he needed to prove something to himself, that caving in would be a pretty good idea if he wanted to get over… get over what? Prove what to himself?

He mentally punched the image of Sanji's face out of his head when it paid him a visit for the umpteenth time that day.

Zoro groaned and stuffed the damned card in his right pocket with more force than necessary. He really was pissed off.

He needed to find a good place to get some booze, no matter how expensive it was anymore, that's what he needed. The other thoughts daring to freely wander in his head right now were bullshit and could go away. Booze was definitely the best of his current ideas.

**TBC**


	21. Chapter 21 - You Can Keep It

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* * *

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**Chapter 21**

**You Can Keep It**

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* * *

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He genuinely didn't know how he had ended up sitting alone in the galley with a bottle of booze in his hands. The whole point of the day had been getting away of the ship and as far away as possible from Sanji. But there he was. Just after he had bought two nice bottles of booze, his uncooperative feet had brought him back to the Sunny and he had ended up sighing and admitting defeat. It was almost dinner time anyways; he should have had to come back sooner or later.

And so in the galley he was. Why the galley and not the peaceful and private crows nest was another question he wasn't willing to try to answer. There was no point in it anymore.

He was wondering where the cook was, though. The galley was his default place to be in and the bastard wasn't there. Which was a relief but definitely not a stable fact in time. He could come back any moment, dinner time was getting close after all. Zoro told himself that he should really move his ass and get out of there before some kind of private encounter happened between them, but he didn't find it in him to do so.

He was tired. And half way through his second bottle, which was nowhere near enough if he wanted to forget the card that was still burning in his pocket. He hadn't thrown it away. He hadn't dared even if he had come to the conclusion that getting rid of it would be the best possible idea. He knew that having sex with some hot stranger in order to get things regarding Sanji sorted out in his head wasn't the best way to go about it and that it would probably mess things up more than they already were in his brain. And he _really_ needed to sit down and sort his shit out because he couldn't go on like this if he had to live with Sanji in the same crew as nakama for God knows how long.

On the other hand, having mind-blowing sex had been in his top-things-to-do-when-we-dock list to start with, for several reasons.

One, he needed relief. Too many restrained boners and crazy libido committing mutiny lately. He had to have that inconvenience solved because he was 1000% sure that that was a big part of his problem regarding the blonde. His dick was taking the reins of his brain's needs and mingled with his tortuous thoughts about Sanji and the whole shitty situation they were in. Sexual frustration was never a good thing. Especially not when it leads to you having boners when thinking about your rival.

Two, he needed to get said rival out of his head because lately 90% of his thoughts had been spent on him and that was something he wasn't about to consent anymore. The Roronoa Zoro he had once been proud to be was able to control where his thoughts were going while now he couldn't, not when they had anything to do with Sanji. Which irked him to a fundamental level. He had half of his hopes put on maybe getting him out of his mind with a session of much needed amazing sex and external physical attention. That always managed to leave his head blank and he did need the inner peace that it brought to him.

Three. Just because. He was a man, he had needs to be satisfied and he could damn well do it if he pleased, because there was nothing there to stop him. Or was there?

Moreover, Aila was stunning and amazing, and she looked as if she knew what she was doing.

The galley door opened at his back and Zoro raised his eyebrows as his thoughts were interrupted. When he turned with dread making his moves slower, he saw who he had thought it would be looking at him with a scowl.

"What are you doing here?" he growled.

"My very fucking line," Sanji growled back with something similar to annoyed incredulity written on his face. "May I remind your mossy brain that this is _my_ kitchen? What do you thing I'm doing here: prepare for a session of samba? What about making dinner, does that sound a bit more plausible? What are _you_ doing here?"

Zoro scowled at him, forcing himself not to tear his gaze away, even if he felt the huge urge to do so.

"What does it look like I'm doing? Does the booze in my hand ring a bell?" he counterattacked.

"Sure, you obviously _had_ to come to the galley in order to drink your shitty booze," Sanji huffed as he opened the fridge and got himself to work.

"Can't remember the day when you privatized the damn place."

"Not a surprise, you have about the same memory capacity as a moss ball, which is somewhere below zero."

"Oi!" Zoro snapped with an outraged snarl.

Sanji smirked and turned his back to him to start cutting vegetables. Zoro blinked, suddenly caught by the fact that they had just been normally bickering as if nothing was amiss. He blinked again and got out of the daze that small moment had brought him to, suddenly remembering where his previous line of thought laid.

Zoro bit his lower lip as he felt Aila's card burn in his pocket and he turned his back to Sanji, concentrating on his booze.

"That better not be _my _booze, by the way," Sanji warned without turning to look at him.

Zoro would have smiled if his brain hadn't been too preoccupied with other things.

"Bought it myself," he muttered.

Sanji frowned at the potato he was just slicing. It had started well, but something was off. Again. The thought that they'd have to compete in a tournament as a team the day after filled his mind as he wondered how the fuck they'd make that work if they only managed to keep their interactions in normal ground for thirty seconds before everything turned awkward and uncomfortable again.

He couldn't restrain a frustrated sigh.

"What?" he heard Zoro ask.

"Nothing."

And he kept slicing vegetables, letting an uncomfortable silence fill the room. Sanji frowned harder. They _really_ needed to sort their issues out; the situation was bordering absurdity.

"You should probably go change," Sanji offered after a while, when the silence was too oppressive for him to take it anymore. By then, half the dinner had been prepared.

Zoro raised a questioning eyebrow and faced him.

"We are going to fancy places and we are planning to leave as soon as we finish dinner; you better make sure you don't dress like a beggar," Sanji clarified. "Move your lazy ass."

Zoro scowled deeper. Smart way of getting him out of there. To be honest, he should thank the cook. He didn't know how to leave without making the situation all the more awkward for both of them. Sanji had always had the brains.

"Watch your mouth."

"Go away."

Nice performance.

Just when his hand was reaching for the doorknob, Zoro stopped in his tracks as he considered an idea. He doubted and stood still for a while, then decided to fuck it and turned to Sanji one last time.

"In case we go lucky with the money thing, there's a place called Dusky Nights that I've heard has really good service."

Sanji turned to look at him with wide eyes and Zoro shrugged.

"Thought you might be interested."

Sanji stared at the closing door as the swordsman left the galley and took a moment to get Zoro's words into his brain so that he could process them. Had Zoro just…? Sanji's gaze glued to the sink as he stood there with his shoulders slightly down and a blank expression on his face for a few minutes. Then he resumed cooking.

"Idiot," he muttered.

* * *

_You are an idiot_, Zoro thought to himself. Why had he ever thought it was a good idea?

He huffed as he headed to the men quarters in order to change into smart clothing that would suit the occasion. Now he was nervous as fuck.

It wasn't the first time he did that, to be fair. There had been a few times where he or Sanji would find a nice place to 'spend the night in' and then discretely inform the other by letting the name of said place slip as if they were recommending some good restaurant. They got the hint and thanked it by being the next one to bring useful information to the other in the next city. They were all men and they all knew what they needed more often than not when they reached a new island. Zoro had crossed Sanji in the hall of a pair of brothels already, and he had even crossed Franky in one of them, which had been deadly uncomfortable, so it was no secret to any of them, and they never bugged the other members of the crew when they spent a whole night out and came back in the morning. They never talked about it, except for Sanji and him. They had established a kind of silent agreement in which, if any of them found a suitable place, they'd discretely let the other know. It would be a lost comment here and there, but the message always got through. It's not as if they frequented those places _a lot_, so those kind of interactions were a few and short, but when one of them slipped a name, the other knew it was a good place indeed.

So, all in all, telling Sanji about the brothel wasn't new.

But it had been stupid.

He didn't need to be a gifted genius to realize that recommending a brothel to a man he was in deep conflict with, not to mention a man he had kissed with and who had been giving him continuous boners lately, wasn't the best of the ideas. Their relationship was already at stake, this had been pushing it too far in a moment where nothing in between them was stable. Sanji could get a million wrong messages out of that in the context they were in right now and he should have known it before mentioning it.

Zoro groaned.

Then he tried to convince himself that it wasn't _that_ bad of an idea. He used the reasoning he had used when he had decided to open his big stupid mouth just minutes ago.

He had been offered a way out through a tempting offer that was now bugging him to no end and making his brain have to work extra hard to determine if it was a good plan or not to just fuck it all and have a relieving night, which he definitely needed after all the emotional shit he'd been through lately. It was only fair that Sanji got the same possibility, that Sanji was offered the same dilemma as him. It was only fair that Sanji was tempted with the same idea as Zoro: have sex with stunning women to forget all about the other and the kiss and whatever conflicted feelings they had. Use sex to clear their minds and sort things up…

…or further fuck up.

The only reason Zoro hadn't yet accepted was exactly that. The rational part in him told him that mindless sex wouldn't solve a single damn thing but rather make things worse. And a raw feeling in his gut told him that, as tempting and inviting as the idea sounded, he'd be dreading it the day after, if not for longer. Confusion and doubt were still there, though. Which was annoying.

So it was only fair that Sanji got to choose, just like him. Moreover, something inside him wanted to see what Sanji would do. He didn't know why but the possibility of Sanji in a brothel made him uncomfortable, and not knowing if Sanji would end up taking it made him incredibly anxious.

Well, good or bad idea, he had now made a move. He would only have to wait to see how Sanji reacted, and all the while he'd have time to decide what to do himself. If they both did it, it would make him feel less… guilty? Guilty of what exactly?

"Dinner is ready, my lovely ladies! You smelly bastards, get your asses here!"

Zoro rolled his eyes and examined his image in the mirror. He didn't look half bad. As much as he disliked suits, they kind of fit him, he had to admit. Maybe he wouldn't even have to pay for a fun night.

* * *

"Is there something bothering you?"

Sanji turned to look at Usopp, who was staring at him quite intently. The blonde raised both his eyebrows in slight amusement, then sighed and looked away with a half-assed smile. He was wearing a black suit and shirt with a shiny red tie that broke the homogeneity, the outfit making him look like a goddamn model. His stance showed that he knew he looked damn fine. His lost stare had been saying otherwise.

"Nope. Why?"

"You are a bad liar."

"Not worse than you."

"_Definitely_ worse than me."

Sanji chuckled and patted Usopp's shoulder. Usopp watched as Sanji lit himself a cigarette, the flame of his lighter momentarily lighting his features up in the beat of a 'click'. When Sanji lifted his gaze again he found his friend frowning at him.

"It's fine, Usopp. Really."

"No, it's not, but you won't spill the beans no matter what I do so I might just as well drop it," Usopp huffed in frustration.

Sanji smiled at him. Usopp was a good friend. But he had seen through his façade and Sanji couldn't have that.

"Yes, might as well drop it."

Usopp frowned deeper and was about to open his mouth when their captain's voice was heard all over the ship.

"So, is everyone ready to party?!"

They both turned and watched as Luffy went out on deck dressed like a dandy, followed by Zoro and Chopper, the rest of the crew slowly gathering around in their smart outfits.

"Yes, captain, my captain," Nami smirked.

Sanji did take a minute to appreciate how radiant she looked in that red dress, but someone on deck noticed the lack of verbal diarrhea going out of his mouth to point that out. Zoro raised a sceptic eyebrow at him, sensing that something was off, but Sanji wasn't looking at him, so he didn't see the gesture.

And if Zoro noticed, Usopp did as well. The sharpshooter grabbed his elbow and discretely forced Sanji to look at him.

"Oi…"

"Hey, Usopp, let's make this a fun night, shall we?" Sanji exclaimed, hanging an arm around his friend's shoulders. Usopp scowled yet again but found himself looking at a grinning Sanji who looked careless and nonchalant as they came. Which left him with no points to make. He sighed.

"Let's bankrupt them all," they heard Nami say. A choir of "hell yeahs" followed and Usopp had to divert his attention to the crew, who were ready to leave and do just that.

Sanji internally sighed in relief. As much as he appreciated Usopp's concern, he didn't need him nagging him about it. He had enough dealing with his own brain.

"Okay, let's make this a fun night," Usopp conceded with a grin as he patted Sanji's back, which basically translated into him dropping the subject but making sure the blonde knew he was there if needed. Sanji looked at him in relief and nodded. When had he become so easy to read, though? Having people worrying about him and fussing about how he looked as if something was wrong didn't sit well in him. He really needed to get his shit together.

"Not to put pressure on you, man, but you do know we depend on you to earn us some good money, right?" Sanji jabbed.

"Relax, I've got it! Did I ever tell you the story of when I bankrupted a whole country in one night?" Usopp exclaimed with his finger rubbing somewhere under his nose, the clear sign that he was about to tell one of his big lies. Sanji smiled to himself. Much better.

Time to go kill it and get rid of the sour mood he had gotten into.

* * *

Sanji smiled when he heard the umpteenth cry of despair that night.

They had broken two casinos. And the third was about to fall if the smirk on Nami's face was anything to go by. The gamer trio had been wiping pockets clean at light's speed as if it wasn't their business, as if they weren't just repeatedly ruining the wealthiest people in Terevera in a night span. Usopp would have some real amazing stories to exaggerate and turn into big unbelievable tales later on. Sometimes Sanji considered the fact that maybe every bit of reality that Usopp's brain processed was automatically filtered that way. Only God knows what tiny part of his big stories respected the true original facts, if there were any.

The long-nose had apparently forgotten about Sanji's unsteadiness as soon as he had been put to work by a commanding and demanding redhead. Nami had that predatory look in her face that told them that she'd get to any extent to get 'her' money. Robin's aura was simply terrifying, her relaxed demeanor and nonchalant smile not helping her case. Sanji still didn't quite understand how there were people willing to confront them in a game. He definitely wouldn't risk it, he only needed to take a quick look at them to know that they were going to utterly ruin him by the end of the night. But there are idiots everywhere, and those were the exact people who were generously 'giving away' their fortunes to the Strawhats and crying their souls out minutes after their financial apocalypses had taken place. Sanji almost pitied them. Almost. The fact that he was consequently becoming richer thanks to them, and especially the fact that he was talking about utter idiots who almost literally had asked for it, made him smirk at the scene.

And there he was, sitting back and drinking a fantastic wine in the third casino they had decided to bankrupt as he watched chaos untangle in front of him. He wasn't exactly drinking a lot, but the exquisite glass gave him some well needed presence and interesting finesse in that smart appearances' 'coliseum'. People looked at him and assumed he was someone important, someone who had enough money to look as if he owned the place. But no, he couldn't drink a lot, he had a duty to take care of. A duty that required his immediate intervention when a desperate man that had just been broken by Nami raised his voice at her.

"You cheated! You witch! You'll pay for this!" he howled with a crazed look in his eyes as he aggressively pointed at her and menacingly shortened the distance between them.

Nami blinked at him with a mock-offended expression tinting her pretty features. "No, I didn't, I am very sorry, mister. My legit win."

"You bitch!-"

"Oi! Watch that mouth, bastard! If you ever talk to her like this again I'll kick your sorry ass!" Sanji intervened from his spot. An irritated vein popped in his forehead as he mentally destroyed the living crap out of the man with a glare.

He had clear instructions not to overreact or physically attack anyone unless it became absolutely necessary, and he had mostly stayed true to his word. Not his fault that three bastards had made it totally necessary in the previous casinos. Such a shame that this one wasn't making it totally necessary for him to kick his ass. Yet. So he took the anger in and restrained his protective instincts to a threatening verbal warning that any person with two brain cells to connect and a bit of self-preservation instincts would take as final.

It just so happens that either the man didn't have any functioning brain cells to connect or that he didn't have the least bit of self-preservation instincts. As he was saying, a brainless idiot.

"You shut the fuck up!" the man growled at him. Then turned to Nami and harshly grabbed her shoulders. "You better get my money back, witch!"

Sanji was already there and ready to kick his face in when Nami gave him a forbidding glare that stopped him in his tracks.

"Get your hands off her," he warned with a clenched jaw but still obeying her and keeping his leg to himself.

"If you were a smart man, you'd leave this place with what's left of your dignity and try your luck somewhere else," she stated with the sassiest eyebrow raise of her repertoire.

"If you were a smart little bitch you'd give me my money back before I strangle you with my own hands," the man counterattacked.

Sanji felt his whole body boil in murdering urges as he gathered all his self-restraint to keep himself in place and not cross the last meter between his foot and that bastard's face. "I swear to God, if you dare say something like this to her again, I'll kill-"

"Sanji, stop it. He's a smart man, he won't touch me," Nami cut him without getting her eyes off the threatening man. "He's just butt hurt that I won his every beli, which is totally respectable. But he won't make a fuss out of it because he knows what's best for him, _right_?"

And the man didn't seem to get the threatening tone to the last 'right', because he violently shook her and yelled bloody murder and life threats at the redhead, who remained unimpressed, the only sign that his grip hurt her being a small flinch.

"That's not helping your case," she sighed.

"Fuck off and give me my fucking money!"

"Oi, Nami, is there a problem?"

Sanji thanked whatever there was to thank in the world when he heard his captain's voice approaching them. Luffy wore a blank almost oblivious expression as he curiously watched the scene. Sanji felt his muscles relax a bit and ordered himself not to jump at the bastard for shaking and yelling at Nami like that. It's not as if he hadn't murdered the man a thousand times in the privacy of his head already, but Nami had expressly forbidden him to intervene and he was rather bad at disobeying women's orders. Not that he hadn't been about to. Had he shaken her for two more seconds, the bastard would already be looking for his lost teeth somewhere in the room.

Nami looked at Luffy and sighed. "Not really, he's just throwing a fit because I got all his money. The usual."

"Oh, I see," Luffy nodded with an understanding look. "Sorry, man. It happens," he consoled the man.

And that was the breaking point were a vein popped in the hysterical man's forehead and his hand left Nami's shoulder to close into a tight fist that was sent flying to her face.

And it would've reached it if Sanji's foot hadn't been faster. By the time the man realized what was going on, he had been kicked to the furthest wall and then kicked again in the gut out of spite and anger. Preventive measures _and_ deterrence, Sanji called it.

"That'll show you to never raise your voice, much less your fist, to a woman, bastard. Now, fuck off," Sanji growled as he lit himself a cigarette and walked back to where Nami was. He took some time to calm himself down as he waited for Nami to explain to an annoyed security guard that Sanji had just been defending her since 'that mean crazy man' had been about to seriously hurt her for no valid reason. Some teary looks and eyelash-batting later, the guard was theirs and he was kicking the bankrupt and now toothless man out of the casino.

Luffy happily patted Sanji's back and cheered for that 'awesome kick', then proceeded to disappear in the hunt for meat, the altercation already out of his mental problems. It had probably never even made it there. Nami could have defended herself without as much as blinking, even when she was still suffering from some pain in her abdominal region as the wound she had received was still healing, but even with that, Sanji was there to back her up. Luffy had probably not even bothered to think of intervening. Not that he hadn't checked on them, though. He was a good captain.

"That's exactly what I was trying to avoid. We don't need to kick every asshole's ass, sometimes we could just spare the effort, you know," Nami reprimanded him with a frown.

Sanji looked at her annoyed expression and drew an apologetic one, a smile inevitably making its way to his lips since her annoyed frowns had always been cute to him. "Sorry about that, my angel. But he had been rude to you and he was about to hurt you, and I couldn't let that happen! I did behave for quite a long time, to be fair," he tried to excuse himself without really meaning it. The only thing he was sorry for was not acting before things had gotten ugly.

Ugh, women did _really_ limit his actions and urges, didn't they? Why hadn't he ever given it any thought before? Why was he even questioning it? He had never had a problem with that; women were divine and perfect creatures he had to cater to!

"Yes, you had some admirable self-control there, actually," Nami conceded with a sigh. Then smiled. "Thank you, anyways. You're always there ready to lend a hand. I could've handled myself though, you know that, right?"

Sanji smiled back. "Of course, darling, you're strong and brave as they come, it's just that I can't let a beautiful angel's hands get dirty if I can avoid it, can I?"

Nami chuckled and patted his shoulder with affection, nodding. "No, I guess you can't."

Sanji's smile quivered a little at that last comment, but he kept it in place. He was quite an expert at doing that. "If you need anything else just tell me, we are around to help."

Nami nodded and walked in between the crowd to get to where Usopp was killing his game, her supervisor mode on. Damn, they really were making them rich. Sanji watched her back as she walked away, his smile slowly fading as Nami's innocent words rang in his head.

_No, I guess you can't._

Sanji sighed and scratched the back of his head, distractedly playing with his cigarette in between his lips.

_You're always there to lend a hand._

The cook let out an ironical smirk and a huff. If only he had _always_ been there. The thought still haunted him that he hadn't been particularly useful when Nami had been hurt weeks before; that they had almost lost her and he hadn't been able to help her. It didn't unsettle him as much as it used to, though. Now it only kind of stung. Now it only bugged him and reminded him that he had to get stronger if he wanted to be someone who would _really_ always be there to lend a hand.

His gaze automatically travelled among the crowd, trying to spot green hair. The bastard had managed to fuck certain things up, but he had definitely succeeded in making others much better. The thought crossed his mind that he hadn't thanked him yet. As clumsy as Zoro had been, he had helped him when nobody else could. Such a shame that he had fucked other things up in the process like the clumsy idiot he was. Such a shame that he was handling the situation like an even clumsier idiot. Sanji felt something similar to anger and disappointment boiling inside of him when he thought of Zoro's recommendation that evening.

The guy truly was a major idiot.

* * *

"What happened there?" Usopp asked with a worried frown.

He had seen a guy being nothing near friendly with Nami, and next thing he knew said guy had been sent flying with a kick delivered by their best kick-ass.

Sanji had been in a bad mood that night and that was the fourth guy who had experienced it first-hand. He had probably earned it, to be fair, but it still bugged him. There was something unsettling Sanji to the level of making him jumpy and have him losing control of his facial expressions and stares, something unusual in the normally nonchalant badass cook who always had everything under control asides from his temperament when it came to Zoro and his nosebleeds when it came to short skirts and generous busts. Lost stares and frustrated expressions being identifiable under his calm mask were definitely out of place.

"Nothing, really. Looks like the man wasn't as smart as I thought. Some people just don't know what's best for them, don't you agree?" Nami casually answered as she took a look at his cards and proceeded to draw a very satisfied smile. Usopp was going to win that one.

Usopp raised an eyebrow.

"And who was that last statement directed to, exactly?"

Nami sent the sharpshooter a surprised look and then smirked knowingly at him. "Also to the rude man."

Usopp rolled his eyes and shook his head with a light smile as he concentrated back to the game. "Figures."

* * *

Zoro gulped down his booze sat on a bar stool. His gaze travelled back to the card in between his fingers. Aila. Ugh, dammit, that woman.

His gaze shot up in search for blonde hair. Where the fuck was the cook? Every time he lost sight of him he got irritated. Because he was having an unprecedented mental breakdown trying to decide if he was going to cave in and get laid or not, which, for fuck's sake, should never be a difficult decision whatsoever! Either you want to have sex or you don't. And while he was trying to get his brain to function properly and stop being a pansy about pretty much everything going on around him, the blonde was happily disappearing from sight God knows where, as if he wasn't the cause of all of his headaches. And Zoro knew he didn't make sense anymore but he swore that the blonde had managed to drive him nuts, and Aila was not really helping the situation. It should have been as easy as 'go, get laid, get your libido under control and forget about the kiss or any boners the blonde has ever given you', but no, of course it couldn't be that easy! He _had_ to deal with should and should-nots! Oh, well, what was Sanji and everything related to him if not a challenge? Damn the blonde.

And Zoro had to go and give him the name of the damn brothel, of course, so now he couldn't help but be curious and – there definitely was something wrong with him- _nervous_ as fuck about what the cook would do, only managing to add a headache to another thousand more.

Zoro was about ready to smash his glass against the counter when he heard ruckus and his instincts automatically told him who had caused it. He stood up to get a better view and watched as Sanji kicked the shit out of a classy looking man who had just been shaking Nami like a psycho. Zoro raised an eyebrow, both relieved and unsettled to have located Sanji in between the crowd in the casino. There was the bastard, saving Nami's ass again. Not like she couldn't do it herself, but of course Sanji would step in. He couldn't help but sigh and think that Nami really owed quite a lot to that idiot who liked to play knight.

But there was something off in Sanji's natural and usual movements and demeanor, which made Zoro scowl and feel slightly restless. What was wrong with the shit cook now? He had been acting weird ever since they had left the Sunny. Well, not really acting weird; he had been acting just as usual, but there was that feeling that there was something wrong with him. He was pissed off for sure, that much Zoro could tell. And maybe… frustrated? He couldn't quite tell. But damn if that didn't make him anxious as fuck. He somehow felt responsible for that. But what the fuck had he done to mess up now?

Zoro proceeded to slam his forehead against the counter and ignore people's weird and even offended looks. Then he discretely turned his gaze to follow Sanji's figure with his cheek plastered to the wooden surface. The blonde went and asked for a glass of wine to the bartender, his stance suave and his movements confident. And there was _still_ something wrong. Zoro couldn't get passed the pissed off vibe.

The swordsman huffed and proceeded to observe Sanji's every movement. The cook had a lost distracted look as he sipped at his wine and seemed to be pondering something, a slight and almost imperceptible frown and pout tinting his features. Zoro had to admit that he was surprised when, after a while, he noticed that Sanji hadn't been trying any moves on any of the beautiful ladies passing by him. At most, the blonde gave them thoughtful and quick looks, but there was no trace of the love-corny puddle he usually metamorphosed into when there were women around. At one point he even smiled at one of them who was giving him an interested look, they exchanged some words and smiles but that was about it.

Zoro frowned. Oh, there was _definitely_ something wrong with cook.

And, what the fuck, there was definitely something wrong with _him_ as well if he was ogling Sanji's every movement like a damn stalker! The fuck was he doing?

Zoro groaned at himself in despair and frustration and proceeded to keep ogling Sanji as if he hadn't just reached the conclusion that there was some kind of fundamental problem with his brain cells for doing exactly that.

So, when Sanji happened to look his way, he found a not very intelligent-looking swordsman with his eyes stuck to his very face. Sanji raised a questioning and uncomfortable eyebrow at him and only then did Zoro realize that he had been caught. Shit. Zoro looked away as fast as he could with a slight embarrassed pout and a pissed off scowl. This was not happening. Being caught by the cook directly staring at him didn't do him any favours, did it? Dammit. When he casted a side glance to Sanji to check if he was still looking, he found Sanji staring at him with a face that screamed 'you are an idiot'. And he probably was.

He needed to man up.

So Zoro sighed with deep dread and readied himself, then walked to Sanji with his eyes set anywhere but him.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked even before getting to stop in front of the cook as he looked at a very interesting spot on the floor.

When Sanji didn't answer, Zoro mustered all of his self-control to raise his eye and meet the blonde's without looking awkward and uncomfortable as fuck. Sanji hadn't changed his expression all the while, but had kept it at a perfect deadpan point that did wonders to make Zoro's goal to seem nonchalant become a challenge.

"What," he inquired, sounding more defensive than he intended.

"That's my line. Did I grow a second head?" Sanji countered along with a perfect arch of his eyebrow.

Well. He had noticed that Zoro had been staring at him like a damn stalker and he was pointing it out instead of faking it never happened. Sanji apparently didn't have time for his shit. Zoro scowled.

"You've been acting strange all night," he stated as a justification. His way of asking the cook if he was alright. Because as much as he was being a grown man now, there was no way he was going to just blurt that out.

"I've been acting normal," Sanji replied with a scowl. He wasn't even trying to argue further than that. Great. Now Zoro had been confirmed that the cook was _really_ pissed off. And something told him that he had something to do with it. Agh, how he hated the new course their relationship had taken! Sanji wasn't even calling him names!

"Whatever," he droned with an annoyed frown as he took a seat by Sanji's side, something that managed to break the cook's deadpan expression to show some surprise. "What happened just there? You kicked a guy's face in. What did he do?"

Sanji gave him a long look that Zoro couldn't quite decipher and then took a sip of his wine, looking slightly distracted. "Same as the other three. He got pissed off because Nami got his money. Took it too far and I had to stop him. End of."

Zoro shook his head. Of course. Same old story. The kind that always annoyed him without an apparent reason. "Nami can take care of herself," he commented.

Sanji huffed and let out a smile that didn't look happy or amused in the least. "Tell me something I don't know."

The swordsman looked at him, a serious expression back in place. It slowly turned to worried as he watched Sanji's features relax until he was left staring at his glass with a lost and tired vibe. He could tell that Sanji was angry. But mostly frustrated and resigned. He suddenly realized what exactly was wrong with Sanji even when his pose and stance reflected his usual ones.

Sanji had always had a _spark_. Both when he was happy and angry, both when he smiled and snarled, both when he stood like a fucking badass and when he turned into the corniest sap he had ever seen: in every attitude and gesture, Sanji had a spark. He had always had it. It was Sanji's spark and it was the one that ignited Zoro's everything, the one that made him angry at him, the one that made him roll his eyes extra hard every time Sanji did something idiotic, the same that made him smile when he heard him laugh and no one saw him, the one that made him respect him. The one that made people around him love him, the one spark that made everything Sanji did _Sanji's_. He rarely noted his absence. Even when he was angry or sad or desperate, there was that characteristic spark. It had disappeared back in The Rock, back when everything Sanji had left of himself was a mask, right before Zoro broke him and gave him the freedom to fix himself back. And now it was gone again. Sanji looked bored and totally out of it, he looked angry and yet he seemed to have come to the conclusion that he didn't give a fuck anymore, he looked… _disappointed. _That was it, that was the feeling Zoro had been trying to pinpoint all night. Sanji was not only angry but disappointed. And resigned. What for, he didn't know anymore, but every cell in Zoro's body was rebelling against that.

"Sanji, are you alright?"

He looked just as surprised as Sanji when he registered the words leaving his mouth. Damn it. So much for not wanting to blurt his concern out like that. And he had to go and call him by his name, no less. Which basically bared Zoro to Sanji with no filter. That's why he didn't do talking. He fucked up and ended up expressing things in a way that made him feel vulnerable as fuck.

Sanji blinked at him for a while, apparently not coming up with anything coherent to answer. Zoro considered the option of just discretely standing up and sneaking somewhere else, away from the embarrasing and awkward moment that he had graced himself and the cook with.

But Sanji drew a small smirk and shook his head, his attention back to the glass in his hand, and Zoro stayed.

"Yeah."

That's it. Curt and direct, like a slap in the face. Sanji was fine and he didn't want to discuss the subject. At least not with Zoro. Zoro felt himself deflate. He was about to fuck it all and bluntly ask him what the fuck _he_ had done wrong for Sanji to act like they had never shared a bond to begin with, when a feminine voice caught his attention at the worst possible moment.

"Oh my, what a coincidence!"

Zoro felt his blood freeze and he swore he almost had a stroke. What was his luck. He turned back to face a radiant-looking Aila smiling at him. That woman was really something else. She stole more glances than pairs of eyes in the room and she knew it.

"What are you doing here," he spat with about as much politeness as a rhino. He could as well have growled and snarled at her.

"Wow, gruff, aren't we?" Aila exclaimed with an amused smile.

"Didn't I tell you that I didn't want-"

"Oh, stop it right there. What makes you think that I am here because of _you_? Didn't expect to find you here, tiger, don't get so jumpy. Last time I checked I could go wherever the hell I please, and I don't think anything has changed ever since," she cut him with a growingly amused face.

"Oi, mind to introduce me to this beautiful lady?"

Shit.

Zoro looked back at Sanji and found a simply polite expression on his face, his smile being especially bright when facing Aila. No love dance, no eternal love declarations, no heart eyes, no trying to overshadow him, no annoying nicknames when talking to him. It was all wrong. Just when he thought things couldn't get more awkward.

Aila stepped in with the brightest of the smiles when Zoro's response didn't give any signs to ever be emitted. "My name is Aila, really nice to meet you."

Sanji's smile matched hers as he took in her stunning beauty and reached for her hand to kiss, which she gave him with a chuckle. "My name is Sanji, my angel! May I say you look heavenly tonight."

Zoro furrowed his nose in annoyance. The scene was unnerving him more than it should.

"You've got a really handsome gentleman for a friend, Zoro," Aila commented as she gave them both a charming smile.

"Thank you, my love. But I wouldn't go as far as to say that we are friends," Sanji intervened with a smile that reminded Zoro of a string about to break.

What _actually_ broke was Zoro's mood. It had already been bad. Sanji's words had made it hell. He almost wanted to smile in bitterness. What did he expect? That was the same line he had heard Sanji or himself repeat time after time ever since they had met each other, but somehow this was the first time it hurt. The first time he couldn't keep up with the joke by adding a 'definitely not friends' or 'he wishes'. Because Sanji hadn't meant it to be a joke this time, a reality they were both very aware of.

"I'll leave you two alone. If you'll excuse me…"

Zoro's stare left the hard ground where it had been stuck to snap at Sanji's standing figure in the beat of a heart, his chest momentarily clenching as the words sunk in.

Just as Sanji started walking away after having politely kissed Aila's hand and without sparing him a look, everything fell into place.

_Of course_ Sanji was angry! Of course he was fucking disappointed! Zoro had been a fucking idiot!

But Sanji was already getting lost in the crowd.

"There's something wrong with your friend, I believe," Aila commented. Then she looked straight at Zoro. "You might want to go after him. Just saying. That's what friends do, tough man."

Zoro blinked at her, then back at the last spot he had seen Sanji in. He was gone. Zoro stood right up, his eyes frantically searching his figure or his blonde hair somewhere. When he couldn't spot him, he quickly turned to Aila and dispatched her with a quick "I gotta go."

Just that Aila stopped him in his tracks by grabbing his sleeve.

"What," he growled.

"Have you considered my proposition yet?" she bluntly asked as if she wasn't being snarled at by a murderous looking man.

Zoro stared at her for a good five seconds and then rummaged in his pockets in the search for something. His hand reappeared with the card Aila had given him between his fingers and he handed it to her, almost plastering it into her hands.

"You can keep it."

Then he got himself lost in the crowd, leaving who could easily be the prettiest girl in Terevera standing alone in the crowd with a raised eyebrow and an entertained expression on her face.

It's safe to assume that whoever witnessed the situation thought he was insane.

**TBC**

* * *

**A/N: **Hiiiii there! It's been a long time! I am really sorry that this chapter has taken me so long to write but I have been kind of stuck with the plot line and I've been lacking quite a lot of inspiration lately, so even when I knew what I wanted to write, it just didn't come out in a way I was satisfied with. I've been really busy lately and so I will be for the next few weeks so I can't promise I'll post the next chapter soon, but I'll be working on it!

That being said, thank you so much for your reviews, they put a smile on my face and they are really useful to me! :) :) :)

I don't have a beta or anything of the kind so I double and triple-check what I write myself, so I am sorry if there are any mistakes in there, I do try to avoid them but I know they sneak in especially since English is not my languange. Sorry about that!

So, did you like this one? Aila has been pushing the situation without really knowing it hehehe. Can't say the same for Nami, she totally knows what she is doing ;)!

Thank you guys for reading and reviewing and I'll see you in the next one! Have a nice week! Big hug!

:)


	22. Chapter 22 - Should Have Known Better

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**Chapter 22**

**Should Have Known Better**

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* * *

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Luffy watched as Zoro proceeded to get lost in the crowd and couldn't help but chuckle when he saw his scowl worsen right before he lost sight of him. Not that Luffy couldn't tell that that wasn't his usual frown but rather a truly worried and anxious face he was pulling, but he didn't worry too much. It didn't take a genius to know what drove Zoro. Not after seeing Sanji leaving two minutes before with a face that screamed '_I need a fucking break_'.

Luffy had long ago decided that he wouldn't meddle in. Not too much. Things had gotten ugly back in The Rock, but he had the feeling that, as much as those two idiots were making their own lives hell around each other and looked and probably felt utterly frustrated and fucked up for whatever reason it was, this time it was not grave. It was just them being idiots, that he could tell. Sanji wasn't lost anymore. Sanji didn't look like someone else who didn't quite match his shadow anymore. The real danger was gone now. Now they were pissed and frustrated and afraid and whatever they felt like, but that wasn't something they couldn't sort out by themselves. Luffy had the feeling that that's exactly what Zoro was trying to do now, that if he found his way around the room without getting lost.

When he popped in the same spot he had last seen him in, Luffy couldn't help but snicker in amusement, even as his first mate's face was even more contorted in anxiety than before. He'd rather not see those two suffer like this, to be fair, but he knew that the only ones who could take care of it were themselves, so he told himself that he'd just let them be and not worry.

When he saw Zoro appearing in the same place as before with his expression reading 'this is hell' for the third time, he shook his head and gave himself a small allowance; he was the captain after all, and as much as he had promised not to meddle in, sometimes his kids needed a nudge.

"Zoro!" he called.

The swordsman turned to look at him, looking confused at first, then spotting him and kneading his eyebrows in a silent question. The way he over-frowned sent the clear message that he didn't have time for him. Good. That's exactly the attitude that Luffy wanted. A huge grin broke his face.

"He went that way!" he pointed.

Zoro scowled deeper, looking surprised as hell, then embarrassed, then confused, then accusing, then outraged, back to confused and finally resolved as he followed his directions. Hopefully he wouldn't get lost this time. Those two really needed their shit sorted out and they better do it quick; he didn't like his crew falling apart.

When Zoro didn't reappear for a while, Luffy told himself that he had found the way, or at least a new way to get lost there, and then posed his attention on something else that had him wondering. There was that young woman, a brunette he could easily acknowledge as stunning as much as he didn't often think in those terms of pretty much anyone since his interests had always mostly laid on meat. She stood by the bar counter with a cup in her hand as she scanned the crowd, a cunning look tinting her features. The way she evaluated the people walking by reminded him of Nami somehow, she looked the same kind of smart as her. And the way she stood and moved looked similar to the way Robin did. Somehow. Kind of. He had never been good at that kind of observations, he either didn't have time for them or got distracted fast enough.

What did catch his attention, though, was the fact that she had approached Zoro and apparently provoked Sanji to leave, which was new. Sanji had been a gentleman as always, but he had acted different in many ways. He had looked for a way out as soon as she had gotten there. Which was weird. And Zoro had been totally unnerved and taken aback by her presence, which was a first as well. Zoro was as impressionable as a rock, but that woman had managed to stand her ground and win Zoro's in a matter of seconds. Which automatically labeled her as anything but irrelevant or ordinary.

And since Luffy didn't have any qualms when dealing with his own curiosity, he just made his way through the crowd until he got by her side. She was easily a few inches taller than him, and she had some hell of a presence, but Luffy just poked at her arm to catch her attention as he did with his own friends.

"Hi," he greeted with a shit eating grin.

The brunette turned to him with a surprised look but quickly drew a polite smile.

"Hi," she greeted in return. Her velvety seductive voice (or so a certain blonde would have described it) made his inner self confirm just what he had though. It was weird, at the very least, that Sanji had run away from that beauty. "Do you need something?" she asked.

"Just wondering, are you friends with Zoro?" Luffy asked without running through preliminaries. Not that he ever thought of them as important, he probably didn't even know that they existed.

The woman blinked at him in confusion and Luffy grinned. "Green hair, tall and strong, a badass scar crossing his eye," he specified. A look of recognition flicked through her eyes.

"Oh," she exclaimed as she nodded. "I wouldn't say we are friends, we just met once before tonight. I'd love to be friends with him though," she smirked.

Luffy, being the oblivious kid that he was, didn't catch on the subliminal message behind her words, so he enthusiastically nodded at her. "Yes, you definitely would, he's a cool guy."

The brunette looked short of amused as she scanned him with her green eyes, a lopsided smile on her face. The kid was entertaining. That until Luffy's face muted into serious in the blink of an eye, which took her by surprise.

"Why are you here?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" she countered with a raised eyebrow. Too many people questioning her presence there that night.

"I mean if you came here for Zoro," he answered, serious expression still in place. "How did you meet him?"

The woman frowned at him. "None of your business, but I have nothing to do with him tonight, that unless he changes his mind."

Luffy went from serious to curious in the beat of a heart, taking her back again. "Changes his mind about what?"

The woman rolled her eyes, starting to look annoyed. "Changes his mind about my proposition."

"Which proposition?"

She glared at him, her patience starting to run short. Or so she made her expression show. A particular gleam in her eyes told Luffy that she was quite entertained with the situation, which kind of intrigued him.

"Having sex with me."

"Oh."

"In exchange for money."

"_Oh_."

She smirked.

"Do you need more details?"

"Nope."

"Good."

Then she proceeded to take a sip of her white wine, looking sophisticated as fuck. Luffy studied her with curious eyes, his brain working things together.

"Uh…"

"What?"

"Did you perhaps propose it to him in front of Sanji?"

"I assume Sanji is the hot blonde dressed in a magazine model suit."

"That one."

"No, I talked… Zoro to it this morning. Just happened to find him here, but I didn't come chasing after him if that's what you're worried about, that'd be unprofessional."

Luffy nodded to himself, feeling slightly relieved. Definitely good news. So she wasn't trouble. Good. He had come to like her, it would have been a pity if he'd had to put her in her place. She was no threat to Zoro or Sanji, at least not a real, serious one. The fact that Sanji had run from her still bugged him, but it wasn't difficult to grasp where the problem was. As long as she hadn't purposefully messed up with them it was alright. Having decided she wasn't a bad person, he was ready to say his goodbyes and leave in the hunt for meat, but she spoke again.

"Are you their boss?"

The Strawhat looked at her with raised surprised eyebrows.

"How would you know?"

"You are being protective and checking on them behind their backs. That's what bosses do. Have you decided that I am a threat yet?"

Luffy stared at her smart looking eyes and grinned.

"Nah, you're fine. You had them both quite on edge, though. That's kind of difficult to achieve."

The woman laughed a cheerful laugh and Luffy followed suit. She was a nice woman, he was officially glad he didn't have to put her in the 'people I don't like' list.

"To be fair, whatever you've done, you've kicked them into motion, so I actually think I should be thanking you. They were being morons," he commented with an amused cackle. The brunette simply smiled at him. "I am Luffy, by the way."

"Aila."

"So, are you playing tonight? I wouldn't advice it," Luffy suddenly brought up, feeling generous enough. He knew Nami wouldn't appreciate him waving away potential pockets she could empty, but he had liked Aila and falling into Nami's arms without being aware of the consequences was a lethal error he wouldn't like to see her commit.

"Oh, I'm not playing. I came to see my brother play," she cleared up with an indecipherable smile.

"Uh, then tell him to back down now that he still can," Luffy warned, crossing his arms in front of his face in a 'x' shape with an expression that screamed 'run for your life now that you still have a hold of it'.

Aila's smirk turned suddenly interested.

"And why would he have to back down?"

Luffy shook his head in exasperation like a father who is about to explain something to his clueless child, a gesture that looked both comical and ironical on him. "Because I have the three best players that have ever stepped in here in my crew. They are all individually capable of bankrupting the whole casino in an hour, it's definitely not the best idea to go against them, I'm telling you, and I'm risking being strangled by my navigator! They haven't lost yet tonight and they won't, they are the best, I swear."

Luffy was surprised when, after all his rant and kind-hearted warnings, her smile still grew into a full-on grin that could be described as nothing else than predatory.

"Oh, well, wouldn't I like to see that."

* * *

Zoro swore on Wado that he'd kick his own ass if he didn't get his shit together and find the damn blonde. He owed him that at least. Where the fuck had he gone? It's not like he could just vanish in the crowd, is it? Could he? Dammit he had seen Sanji do so many crazy things that he didn't even think he'd be surprised if he suddenly found out that he could. Well, that's exactly what he had done, the sneaky bastard. It's not that Zoro was getting lost, there was no way, he was just wandering around in the search of blonde hair, not his fault that everyone kept changing places. Or so he told himself.

When he saw Luffy directing him to where Sanji had gone off to, Zoro had been about to kill things. Even the oblivious moron that was Luffy had noticed his obsession with the cook. Even he knew that there was something going on between them and that they needed to sort it out. Even he knew that Zoro was desperate to find Sanji and had helped him out, which was no good to his ego. If he knew, everybody else in the crew did too, no doubt. Asides, maybe, from Chopper. He was still an oblivious kid. In any case, if Luffy had understood the nature of their 'conflict', Zoro didn't know and highly doubted it, but their captain knew.

Not that that was his major problem. His major problem was an evasive blonde and how Zoro had acted like an idiot, only making things worse between them. Congrats, Zoro, he told himself.

"Where the fuck are you?" he muttered to himself, but, as much as he scanned the room, he couldn't spot Sanji. He had disappeared. Vanished.

Zoro cursed under his breath and kept searching. He needed to find him and apologize. Ugh, only thinking about it made him want to go back on his steps and forget about it, he was no good with apologies and he hated having to admit that he had fucked up, especially to Sanji, but he knew he had acted like an idiot and he knew it had to be done. He knew Sanji deserved it. At least an apology. He had to suck it in, be a man and get it done.

An apologize didn't automatically mean things getting better, which he was starting to believe that they wouldn't, but it did mean that he would have done what he had to and that he'd have a chance to erase the look of disappointment off Sanji's face. He hated that look and he knew it had most likely been him who had caused it. He'd rather have Sanji furious or cold with him than disappointed at him. That last one hurt and made him feel like a prick. So, yes, apologize. That's what he had to do, even if it was already costing him his pride.

But to do that he had to find the shit-cook.

And Sanji was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

Sanji was furious, but mostly sick and tired of that shit, which drained all the fight out of him. He just wanted some peace and quiet and the chance to get away from idiotic morons and insufferable situations. He'd had enough.

He felt grateful when the cool breeze of the night hit him once he managed to get out of the Casino. The streets were packed and people came and went in between buzz and yells, a festive atmosphere soaking the city.

He thought he _needed_ some real time away from Zoro, and the reminder that he had to team up with him in a competition the day after made him want to kick things. He couldn't promise that he'd keep his temper at bay, and Nami would have his head for it. Damn it, he needed to calm down. Luckily, he was too psychically tired to even throw a fit. He felt deflated and a bit numb as well as frustrated and angry at the stupid moss head. But mostly disappointed. That one particular emotion loomed over the others driving him to the point where he didn't know what to do anymore.

If he had to be rational, Zoro hadn't exactly done anything abominable or _really_ worth of his murderous intent, but he had acted like an idiot in a way that had managed to hurt him more than it should have.

_Dusky Nights._

Sanji snorted. That had been an idiotically insensitive move even for the plant head. Something Sanji hadn't expected he'd do. He had subconsciously trusted him not to, at least. He had expected Zoro to disappear from sight for the whole stay in Terevera and to avoid him with the same dedication he avoided the subject of his debts with Nami. That or him snapping at him and getting into a nasty fight. He had even expected him to act cold towards him and ignore him, which would have hurt, but still.

But when Zoro had appeared that evening in his kitchen with the sole purpose of 'informing' him of the existence of a brothel for him to go to with the implied intention of having him relieve his stress and forget about their problem through mere sex only paid for with that aim… that had deflated him. That had hit him like a punch. And if Zoro had recommended the place to him, he most likely had been there already, or negotiated with the staff there. And if not, he was going to go there in the near future, that much was for sure. Sanji had the suspicion that Zoro had told him in order help himself get rid of some of the second thoughts he might have had about the idea, the selfish bastard.

He didn't care. Not anymore. He was sick and tired and he was done with it.

He had been trying to come to terms with what their relationship had degraded itself to be in the last couple of days.

There had been something in The Rock, something that had fundamentally changed and made both of them conscious of how close they were, something that had dragged them even closer, a deep soul-shaking bond that Sanji hadn't even had the time to define or name before it broke with the biggest fuck-up they had committed so far. That damned kiss.

From then on, their relationship had been hell, especially with how he terribly missed their former one (not that he'd ever admit it out loud), and mostly because of how they hadn't been able to properly handle it like adults. It had been complicated, and tense and unbearable sometimes, it had been nerve-wrecking and difficult, explosive and unbelievably restrained at the same time, and Sanji swore he had been pulling at the last strings of his sanity to keep up with the roller-coaster pace it had taken. But he had learned to accept it and live with it in hopes that it would get better. He knew he needed time away fromZoro more often than not, which irked him because he saw it as running away from their issues, but he had learned to accept that as well. And when Nami told them that they would have to team up and they had both looked at each other knowing it would be hell to endure, he had still accepted it and decided to go along with it, as hard and troublesome as it was going to be.

His relationships in the Baratie had always been difficult, hell, his relationship with Zeff had almost killed him a few times, but he had learned to live with them and had admitted to himself how much he loved those people. So he was definitely used to difficult relationships; he had grown up with them. On that basis, even when his and Zoro's had become short of impossible lately, he had still taken it in, snapped a few times, tried a few others and evaded himself when the other two weren't working. He had tolerated Zoro being impossible under the basis that _he_ was being impossible as well. He had coped with it and he had been willing to roll with it as it went, letting himself be dragged in the mud, all because something inside him told him that it would be worth it in the end.

But there was just _no way_ that he was coping with _that_. Enough is enough. Their relationship was already close to burning into ashes more often than not, but the fact that Zoro had belittled it to the point where he could just use or propose to use paid sex to brush their problems under the carpet and pretend nothing had ever happened was insulting and disrespectful. And utterly disappointing. A relationship that mattered this little to the damn swordsman wasn't even worth fighting for anymore.

Sanji had been trying. He swore he had. Trying _really hard_ and failing most of the times, having surrendered to the need of staying away from Zoro and avoiding him, though never as much as Zoro had been escaping him, but he had _still_ been_ trying_. Trying to get a hold of the last strands of a relationship that kept cracking since they didn't understand where it was going and were afraid of the answer, but it still mattered enough to fight for it. Dammit, he _had_ fought for it. And he had thought that Zoro, even with the evasive bastard he had become lately, had done so as well. Turns out that where he was still making efforts to save it, Zoro had given up on it, deciding to brush it away with something as meaningless as sex paid for that only purpose. There was no other explanation to why he'd do something like that and propose it to him.

_Dusky Nights._

Sanji lit a cigarette without realizing that his hold on the lighter was way too aggressive, but he did manage to light it. Damn it. Sanji would have liked to think that Zoro respected him more than that. If Zoro hadn't come with the name of the brothel in his lips as a recommendation, Sanji would have never thought he'd go as low as using that in order to address their issues. Because it _was_ low. Where Sanji held respect for their relationship and treated it as important even when he had to live with its torturing remains, Zoro had fucked it all and not only presumably taken but also given Sanji a quick mindless way out that didn't show any respect for it nor the will to preserve it or fight for it in any way. Because you don't need a gifted brain to know that mindless and meaningless sex was only going to further fuck it up, which he apparently didn't care about as long as he earned himself some quick relief and short-term distraction.

Great. And then what? Then would come the regret and the guilt. Well, at least for him; it didn't look like Zoro cared too much anymore.

When it came to serious business Sanji wasn't a drama queen and he really was trying to look at things in the most objective way possible, but he couldn't get passed the fact that Zoro had fucking disappointed him. That Zoro had belittled whatever they had or had had in the blink of an eye with a literal shrug. _Thought you might be interested. _He couldn't get the words out of his head nor how casual Zoro had sounded about it all. The tone had been an extra slap to the face, to be honest. How could he just bring it up as if it was nothing?

Their problems weren't nothing! They had taken a long road together in the last few weeks and everything that had happened up to date had reached deep within them. The kiss being what fucked it up wasn't as much the issue as how much it had affected them. As far as Sanji was concerned, it had been a kiss claimed in the spur of the moment, where all the emotions they had both bottled up had exploded.

But it still had changed everything.

He knew that two grown adults should have been able to be reasonable about it and come to terms with the fact that they had, indeed, kissed, and that it wouldn't affect their relationship as nakama since it also involved the crew and they couldn't get their personal matters in the way. But it hadn't gone like this. It had changed things to a fundamental level, making it impossible for them to get back to normal and damn difficult to keep the remains put together to try and fix it. Which might have been seen as overreacting by the outsider, but the problem precisely resided in the fact that they couldn't help it, that they really didn't know how to go about it. It didn't take a genius to realize that there were some underlying deep issues there that had to be dealt with sooner or later, rather later given the outlook of the situation, but still.

Well, Zoro had just gone and seriously considered (if he hadn't already done it) fucking it all and brushing it aside for the sake of convenience, comfort and fastness, taking away any real possibility of actually dealing with it, if not making it worse. That's how much he cared and respected it. Respected _him_.

Sanji huffed. He got that Zoro felt cornered just as much as he did, but that had been the last string he would have expected him to pull. And it had hurt and disappointed him to the point where he didn't even give a fuck anymore. The fury he knew he felt somewhere inside only came out to the outsider as annoyance and a bitter mood, his deeper and rawer feelings (which _were_ there) not even bothering to twist his guts anymore because, what was the point?

If he was completely honest with himself, the fact that he was convinced that Zoro had already bought his easy way out with Aila, or that he would that night or the next one, had been the breaking point. He didn't even have the will to snap. Why should he care?

The cook massaged the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache forming. Aila. He hadn't needed a second glance to know what she did for a living. It wasn't her clothes or her make-up, it was her demeanor, her everything. And since he knew how to put two and two together, it didn't take him more than two seconds to connect her with Dusky Nights and Zoro's suggestion that evening.

_There's a place called Dusky Nights that I've heard has really good service. _He didn't really need to strain his brain to know who had told him. He just hoped Zoro had just 'heard it' and not 'experienced it' yet. He didn't know why it made a difference, but he did know that having confirmed that Zoro had already done his part in fucking everything left up would totally be the last string breaking for him.

He suddenly had the urge to go and ask the damn moss head if he had been enough of an idiot to do it, to go and beat some sense into his mossy brain, if he still hadn't done anything, in order to prevent him from doing so. But then again he told himself that he didn't have the right to do so. Zoro was a grown adult who could make his decisions and Sanji was tired of being the only one trying to keep everything together 80% of the time. If Zoro made this decision, he'd make it on his own as much as Sanji was fuming at the thought.

And, what the hell! What had the bastard been thinking when he had brought it up for Sanji to take as well? Who did he take him for? Did he _really_ think Sanji would ever show that little respect and actually use mere bought sex to get rid of the burden that refloating their relationship had become? Well, he didn't know him as well as he thought! One thing was having sex for the sake of it, even in their current situation; a whole different issue was to use it _for_ something like that!

Sanji took a steady drag of his cigarette, the smoke entering his lungs and bringing some calmness with it. He was pissed, but he was surprisingly calm for how explosive he usually was. On the outside at least. At that point he just felt void and disappointed. And tired, really tired of it all. It had come to the point where he didn't care.

He'd just fight in that competition along Zoro the day after, be docile about it, cooperate and get it over with; it wasn't even worth his anger. He'd get into a cordial relationship with Zoro since they had to coexist in the same ship for longer than he could picture, but that was it. No special nakamaship, no special nothing. The thought made him kind of feel sick. Man, it would suck. But his brain needed a break and Zoro didn't give a fuck anyways, so why should he?

Just that he couldn't just brush it away like that, could he? In his 'I don't care anymore' daze, he found himself mulling about the fact that Zoro wasn't only hurting him with his actions, but he was also going to hurt himself. As disappointed and pissed off as he was with him right now, he knew Zoro well enough as to know that, once he had satisfied his primal need to find an easy way out of the tense situation, he'd feel like shit. Because those actions were out of character; they were result of a shitload ton of stress he hadn't been able to handle properly, making him escape instead of fighting it (which the Zoro he knew would have done instead), but still not 'his'. So he knew that, when Zoro came back to his senses, he'd just feel double the wrecked and anxious, and he'd probably feel guilty. Sanji knew it because that's how he'd feel, and there had come the point where Zoro became just as predictable as himself when it came to certain things. And, as much as he had let him down with this, white is white and black is black, and Zoro was noble as they came. When he'd realized what he'd done, if he did it, he'd probably feel worse than he had felt to start with. He'd hurt himself even more than he would hurt Sanji and that was just as true as the fact that Luffy ate like a human vacuum.

As he kept telling himself that he didn't care, this thought wandered through his head, urging him to go and talk Zoro into reason, if he was still in time to do so. Which he probably was. Something inside him told him that Zoro hadn't yet done anything. Maybe. It could just be a product of his hopes that he hadn't. It probably was his resentment that made him wave it away, just as he had waved away the thought that Zoro had actually bothered to ask him if he was alright that night. He didn't need those second thoughts. It was Zoro's decision and he wasn't going to meddle in more than he already had.

Another voice in his head told him that he was just too pissed off and tired to properly reason, that he just needed some time for himself and a good sleep, that he was probably overreacting, but he was quite convinced that he wasn't. The hurt was as real as the full moon that night. The betrayed feeling would probably fade away with time until it settled down as something that just bugged him, just like it had happened as for Nami getting hurt.

Or maybe he really just needed to kick the moss head's ass and get his frustrations out as it should be done, through a good going-all-out fight with the plant he had a problem with and not through mindless sex with a stranger you paid to in order to made you forget! Man, that was just lame.

Sanji furrowed his eyebrows in annoyance. He would have loved to have the rage of anger fueling him; he would have probably just gone and done exactly that, beat Zoro's ass and get over this whole damn stupidity. But the most he could get out of himself at the moment was annoyance. That dickhead had managed to strike him good with his idiotic move. It was ironic that it had been casually spoken words that had managed to numb him like this. Out of all the things Zoro could have disarmed and hurt him with, it had to be words. He almost laughed. The marimo had never even been eloquent, for fuck's sake!

And he would have been stuck in that same harming spiral line of thought for hours if he hadn't heard a scream. It was faint and muffled by the crowd's buzz, but he could recognize that noise anywhere. It was the scream of a girl. The kind of scream that desperately asked for help.

All of his instincts kicked in and, before he registered his actions, he was running to the nearest corner and turning left into a dark back street where he _knew_ the scream had come from.

* * *

Zoro swore his luck hated him. Just when he had finally given a try at looking for Sanji outside of the casino and actually found out where the main doors leading to the main street were, just when he had seen Sanji standing right in front of them, he had had to stop himself from running into him and letting out everything building up in his unhelpful brain. He had stopped in his tracks, ogling Sanji's back with intent and wondering what came next. He wasn't good with these kind of things. And then he heard a scream and Sanji was gone faster than he blinked.

What the fuck.

Sanji Impossible Blackleg was his name. Of course he would run away in search of the voice if he suspected the owner could wear a nice skirt. And of course it would happen just when he had been about to cut the distance between them and catch his attention. Now he had lost sight of him again and he was fairly sure that his sense of direction wouldn't exactly help him in the 'track and find' Sanji department.

Zoro groaned in frustration and started running to where he was pretty sure Sanji was headed.

Hopefully.

* * *

Bingo.

He had only needed two minutes, if that. He found it, no doubt, where he had thought he would. It was a narrow isolated dark street, nothing surprising, just what he had in mind when he had heard her scream. But not less infuriating.

A big bulky man was holding a young blond woman against a wall, pressing her body against cold bricks with anything but delicacy. She was sobbing and pleading for him to let go, not that the bastard would listen with his hand already far under her skirt, rummaging further up each second. Another guy, this one smaller and with short blonde hair, much smarter looking, watched the scene with an amused smirk on his face from a small distance.

It took Sanji about two seconds to kick the off-guard bigger bastard's face in and away from her. She screamed in shock as the asshole let out a dissonant gurgle that meddled with the higher-pitched voice of hers. In any other circumstances when facing more than one oponent at a time, Sanji would have normally turned to the blonde douchebag on his right and proceeded to rearrange his face right after the first move as a preventive measure, but he was in a really sour mood and that scene had managed to punch all the wrong buttons in him as he forgot all sensibility and bodily launched himself again to the bulkier beaten up man, who was currently trying to stand up as he stared at his own teeth scattered on the floor in disbelief.

"You bastard son of a bitch!"

The next kick landed in his gut and tore a harrowing sound out of him. Sanji would have lied if he had tried to claim that he hadn't enjoyed every moment of his suffering. The bastard deserved it, lucky him he hadn't gotten further in his disgusting game with that poor girl or else he'd be dead by now. Next kick went to his shin and broke it, making sure he wouldn't be able to get up again and cause trouble. His scream overpowered the faint buzz coming from the main street, resounding through the walls of the dark and smelly alley.

"That'll teach you to keep your hands to yourself, you disgusting scum!" Sanji snarled as he gathered all his self-restraint so as not to actually hurt the man in ways that would end up being immoral to his own standards, even with the immoral disgrace the bastard had been about to do to the blonde girl before Sanji intervened. As much as he wanted to kill him, he hadn't done anything irreparable before having his ass handed to him, and Sanji knew where to place his limits. Or so he was trying to remind himself as he forced his body to spin around to take care of the second bastard involved.

Who happened to be holding the girl he had just saved hostage, pulling her body against his and placing a knife against her neck, milliseconds away from actually piercing her skin. Sanji swore at himself. What the fuck had he been thinking? He should have knocked that bastard blonde out before getting carried away; losing sight of him without having done so had been stupid as fuck! That's why he always tried to keep his emotions at bay; as much as he was explosive he always had tactics in mind when acting. Or else things like this happened.

Oh, damn.

Sanji stood still like a statue as he stared at the blonde with a murderous glare, silently evaluating the range of effective moves and hits he could land that could get the asshole away from her before he actually harmed the lady. He found none.

The blonde man smirked at him when he read Sanji's realization in his eyes. Sanji's expression remained blank and only softened when his gaze landed on the young woman held hostage. She was sobbing in the other man's arms, looking at Sanji with pleading eyes and visibly shaking in fear.

"Hey, love, don't worry, okay? You'll be alright," he reassured her with a warm tone that came out as an instinctual response to her tears.

"My my, and wouldn't that be Blackleg Sanji?"

Sanji merely raised an eyebrow as a third man came out of nowhere. How he hadn't sensed his presence before he didn't know, but facts are facts and when you are fighting you have to accept them, and the fact was that he was there. And he looked like he had something to give, unlike the others. He looked like he could pose a challenge. The fact that Sanji hadn't sensed him coming before he let himself be seen spoke volumes. Not that he thought he couldn't beat him, he was totally sure he'd just need some extra effort but would still own it. Nah, the problem wasn't how much of a challenge that man could be in a fight, Sanji had had worse, he could tell already. The problem was that his own body wouldn't move until the girl was freed, he couldn't risk having her hurt, or worse, dead, just because of his recklessness. Sanji wasn't one to just stay still, though, so his brain kept on switching from plan to plan as he registered the situation, just that he couldn't come up with anything particularly useful that wouldn't involve risking her life for real. Not until the blonde bastard moved. One millimeter would be more than enough for him to knock him out and get her out of there safe and sound, but as inoffensive as the bastard would have looked without a knife in hand, the guy knew what he was doing. The fact that there weren't any openings wasn't coincidence. That man _knew_ how to leave none.

Sanji's eyes flickered to the older bald newbie, shortly registering that he wasn't holding any weapons in his hands. Half a second worth of quick observation more told him that he kept two guns by his hips. But he hadn't made any gesture as to touch them yet. Nor was he standing in any threatening pose.

Then his brain caught up with the fact that he had recognized him. The inevitable question popped in his mind of who was that man. The lack of knowledge wouldn't keep him awake at night as he was pretty sure he wasn't a big fish, but he could reckon he wasn't a rookie either.

All in all, Sanji was in a tight spot.

"That would be me, indeed. If you know that, you should also know that it's in your best interests to let her go and get your ass out of here before I crack your skull open. But I haven't seen you doing any of it yet, and not only do I have a short fuse but I'm quite pissed off tonight already, so you better get started."

"Or what?" the older man daringly smirked at him, which only irked Sanji more than he could afford without his sensitive nerves being fried. A vein pulsed in his forehead as he pulled at the last strings of his self-control to keep himself still and don't act dumb; a lady's life was in danger here, he had to remind himself. The bastard let his smirk become and amused mocking grin. "Come on, Blackleg, we all know you can't possibly do anything, can you? Unless you don't care about what happens to her, that is. But it's starting to become common knowledge that you have a weak spot for women, so I'm assuming you do care. Have you found any weak spot you can aim to before Lux there slices her throat yet?"

Sanji afforded a quick glance at the terrified girl and then glared at Lux, reducing him to ashes in the privacy of his mind for the tenth time.

"Nah, you most likely haven't if your frustrated frown is anything to go by."

Sanji's stare went back to the older man, glacial and deathly. He was stuck here. There really was no opening to be found. Shit.

"Tell you what we'll do. You'll quietly come with me at once without presenting a fight, and if you behave we'll consider letting her go, how does that sound?"

Oh, well. So the whole situation wasn't what Sanji had thought it was to start with. This wasn't about some bastard trying to rape a young lady in a dark alley. Nah, this was all set up. The target wasn't her, it had been Sanji from the start. Whoever those scumbags were, they had been waiting for him. They had just chosen the best way to attract him towards them, making him vulnerable in the process. Whatever their motives were, they knew they couldn't take him even if they teamed up, so they had decided to play dirty. Not that he would forgive them for involving an innocent beautiful flower in their shit, never mind if they never really intended to 'really' harm her. The cook furrowed his eyebrows, letting him know he was deeply unimpressed.

"Go with you exactly where and why?"

The bald bastard had the audacity to openly guffaw at that, apparently amused by something. "Oh, so you think you are in the position to make inquisitions about my conditions here? May I remind you how fucked you are if you still want to call yourself the gentleman you claim to be?"

Sanji stared at him with what he hoped was a blank expression that wouldn't give anything away. Too bad his jaw was clenching too hard for comfort or subtlety.

"Where to and why," he repeated with an imperative tone that made a visible shiver run down Lux spine at his left. Sanji's peripheral vision told him that the movement hadn't still been enough to leave an opening for him to work with. The bastard knew his own game.

The older man levelled him with his arms crossed in front of his chest, a victorious smirk still in place.

"I am Richard Orlan, boss of the Orlan Pirate Hunters."

Sanji wrinkled his nose. What kind of stupid and unoriginal name was that for a pirate hunter gang? Oh, well, he was officially unimpressed.

"No shit," he muttered. "Let me guess, you want me to help you hand me in to the Marines so that you can get your shitty bounty since you can't do it yourselves, is that it?"

"Watch it. You're in no position to talk all cocky and condescending."

Sanji smirked, still unmoving. "Oh, 'condescending', that's quite a word for an empty skull like yours to produce, well done Richard, you should be proud of yourself."

"Oi, don't talk to my boss like that, bastard! Want me to cut her throat open?"

And that was all Sanji needed. The almost non-existent movement Lux's body did when he yelled at him in outrage gave him enough time to act. Sanji made a step towards Orlan, faster than lightning, as his right leg left the ground to kick. Orlan's hands darted to his guns out of sheer reflex, but that wasn't where Sanji's attention laid on. Lux jerked up in horror as he saw Sanji's far too fast and unpredictable offensive against his boss come out of nowhere, and that's exactly what Sanji was waiting for. A step backwards, a bullet dodged as he bent his body backwards and changed the trajectory of the attack to his left, his whole body rotating with the incoming kick as he faced Lux, who realized all too late who the attack had been aimed at from the start. His eyes opened in shock as his wrist changed the angle against the girl's neck, and he would have effectively sliced it before he had managed to land the hit if Sanji hadn't spat his cigarette to his face at that very moment. Lux closed his eyes out of pure reflex and lost balance as the cigarette hit his cheek, almost reaching his eye, and burned the skin there, which left a centimeter between the blade and her throat. Then the kick landed against his elbow, which cracked, most likely broken, and the rest was history.

Lux fell to the ground with a painful scream, Sanji kicked the knife away and rotated to face the boss, who was currently firing both guns at him. He dodged and kicked one of the weapons out of his hand in the blink of an eye. The bastard was better than he thought he would be, though, as he got a grasp of Sanji's arm, pulled him flat against the pipe and fired. Sanji was fast enough to contort his body into a painful dodging position that managed to reduce the wound to a scratch to his side. Sanji felt the burn and the pain, but he gritted his teeth and directed his knee to Orlan's ribs. Which he broke. Orlan fell to the ground with a gasp and a cracking sound and Sanji took some jumpy steps back to regain his balance, then launched himself against the man yet again.

To his credit, Orlan dodged and landed a punch against Sanji's shoulder blade, which would have definitely gotten him out of balance and given Orlan the advantage hadn't his opponent been Sanji Blackleg. But Sanji used the momento of the hit to spin around in the direction he had been sent to and kicked the man straight into his face, sending him flying against a wall.

Sanji groaned and touched his side, his fingers quickly soaking with blood. Damn, it hurt. It had been worse of a hit than he had first thought, but at least he had managed to avoid a direct shot in his abdomen; that would have sucked, plus the initial contact point had been dangerously near his spleen, so all in all he had spared himself some major trouble. But still. He hadn't performed one of his best fights here; too much messing up with his head for him to fully concentrate, proof of it was that he was wounded when he shouldn't have been. In the end, they hadn't been that much of an enemy, to be fair. Orlan had held his ground against Sanji for an admirable amount of seconds, which wasn't half bad considering he was Blackleg Fucking Sanji, but he still hadn't been as much of a challenge as he had originally thought he'd be. Yet he had still gotten wounded. Ugh. Sucks.

Sanji breathed hard through his nose, trying to make the pain dissipate a bit. It really wasn't his day was it?

He concluded it definitely wasn't when he felt the tip of a knife press against his lower back, right against the dip in between two of his vertebrae. He stilled himself and held his breath, the burn on his side becoming insistent now that he was completely aware of all the parts in his body in order not to move a single inch.

Fuck.

He didn't need to turn to know who held the knife. A bitter smile made it through his lips, resignation taking the reigns of his expression.

"To be honest, I wasn't expecting this. You are a good actress."

He felt the tip of the knife press a bit further against his back, more than likely ripping his jacket but not yet his skin. Yet. His whole body tensed at the touch. That was quite a critical point the knife was pressed against. He was no doctor but he was pretty sure of what the consequences would be if the weapon ever made its way in between his two vertebrae. Then a female soft voice spoke right into his ear.

"You should have known better."

Sanji mockingly grinned at himself. Of course he should have. There had been something off with the whole thing from the start. But he had been so dominated by his bitter mood that he hadn't realized.

"Why didn't you do something before? Could've saved some of your mates' bones," he commented with a casual tone. Only if you listened intently would you be able to discern the bitterness in it.

He felt her smile by his ear. He clenched his jaw up to a painful level.

"The plan was to make you come quietly with us. If you sympathized with me I would've used that to keep you under control until we handed you to the Marines, keep you from causing ruckus. You were feistier than I thought, though. You are a bad boy, you ruined our initial plans. Now I have to be the bad woman who captures you and hands you in, what an unpleasant role you just gave me. And I don't even want to mention how bad you hurt my friends here," she purred.

Sanji bit his lip in an attempt to control his boiling frustration and anger. How had he been fooled like this? He really should have known better. He felt her free hand pulling at his blonde strands, forcing his head backwards to an uncomfortable and painful angle.

"So. All the cards on the table now. Will you behave and come with me, please?"

Sanji darkly chuckled. "Such a dirty trick for a beautiful flower like yourself."

She laughed. "Oh, and what did you expect? Fame has a price, Blackleg, not only do your victories make their way around the world; rumors include weaknesses. They travel with you wherever you go and people are starting to know them. If you weren't expecting anyone using them against you then you are a fool who's not prepared to be where you stand. Shit happens, blondie, if you can't overcome it, then learn to deal with it."

Sanji let his eyes wander up the sky. The stars were bright that night, even with the city lights blurring them away. He felt a weight in his chest as he breathed in some fresh air and tried, for the life of him, to swipe frustration away, slowly leaving space for resignation.

He heard movement at his right and caught a glimpse of Orlan getting up and breathing hard to get his oxygen back. He felt him bore a hole in his head, but he couldn't have given a fuck even if he had tried.

"Are you going to behave and come with us?" the boss snarled when he got in front of his face.

Sanji looked at him with a blank stare, his gaze unwavering and solid, no fear whatsoever in it. He didn't let the deflating feeling inside show, nor the frustration, nor the resignation, not the anger he felt at himself for having to go through this yet again and still not be able to do anything about it.

"He asked you a question," the blonde prodded as she put more pressure against his back.

Sanji sighed. "Can I have your name?"

It took a few seconds until the girl registered the question as directed to her. She smirked and approached his ear yet again, letting her lips brush the flesh there. "Nicole."

Sanji let out a bitter smile, leaning his head a bit in her direction so as to make clear that he was speaking to her.

His mouth was inches away from hers when he whispered, "Go ahead."

And his tone was deeply filled with venom.

If she was surprised by that unusual display of hostility towards a woman, she didn't let it show. Nicole pushed him in what Sanji thought was no particular direction, and the blonde let himself be led, the pinching sensation of the knife in his back slowly becoming less of a burden and more of a permanent nagging feeling he could ignore.

"Let's go," Orlan ordered as he dragged Lux up to his feet and pointed at their third whining comrade for Lux to carry.

"'Let's go' my ass."

And as much as Sanji hated his guts right now and wanted him as far away as possible, he couldn't help but bitterly smirk when Zoro's voice resounded against the walls of the alley.

**TBC**

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**A/N:** Let's give a round of applause for Zoro, who managed to find his way for once and in time! Yaaay!

Again, I am really sorry about the delay but I have been really busy lately and so will I be for a while. I write when I can, but lately I am having less and less time for it, so I am sorry if there's a big gap between chapters, I don't know when I will be able to get the next one ready, but I am working on it!

As always, thank you SO much for your reviews, they are lovely and they help a lot, not only to motivate me but also to see where I go right and wrong, so don't be afraid of leaving your opinions there, I really appreciate them!

I hope you have a nice week, see you in the next one! :)


	23. Chapter 23 - Is it worth it?

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**Chapter 23**

**Is it worth it?**

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"Let's go my ass."

Such finesse. Zoro had never been one to talk smart. That may be why Sanji couldn't stop comparing him to a caveman. The chef felt a smirk tug at his lips, a knowing relieved smile that slowly degraded to be bitter. Not that Zoro's intervention hadn't been welcome but, out of all the possible people who could come and give him a very much needed hand, did it really have to be _him_? Zoro had seen him in enough weak situations recently as to add yet another one to the list. Sanji's pride had limits, especially when it came to Zoro, and those limits had been tested and destroyed too many times lately for his taste.

So, yeah, much like all Sanji's mood swings, he went from relieved to a 'damn it' attitude in barely three seconds. About the same amount of time it took for Zoro to knock Lux and the other bastard out. They most likely hadn't seen it coming. Neither had Orlan or Nicole, who gasped at the sudden twist of the events.

Zoro was fuming. He didn't remember being this angry in a while. Well, to be fair, it wasn't that long ago that he had been about to kill Sanji in an attempt to bring him back from wherever the hell his brain had decided to find refuge into back in the Rock, but he hadn't thought such rage would come back this fast. He was furious, but not at the bastards attacking Sanji. He was furious _at Sanji_. It didn't take a genius to put two and two together. Sanji was letting himself be taken away to the Marines and he was in a woman's hands. There's nothing much to comment here.

Sanji didn't flinch when Zoro sent him a murderous glare from where he now stood a few feet away from them. Neither did he flinch when Nicole's knife dug into his skin dangerously scratching a bone in his back in an attempt to secure their position.

"I'm going to kill him," she threatened, hiding herself behind Sanji's back, barely allowing herself a small visual angle to directly look at Zoro, who put mentally killing Sanji aside for a while in order to evaluate her and think of a way of getting that bastard out of trouble without having his vertebrae fatally pierced.

Sanji felt the pain in his lower back but didn't allow himself to show it. It was painful as hell, but he'd had worse. Plus, the moss head was watching, it's not as if he was going to embarrass himself further by complaining or letting how much it hurt show.

"Put that knife away and I may not kill you and your boss," Zoro warned her.

She just scoffed, making the indentation in Sanji's skin deeper as to illustrate who had the upper hand there. Sanji restrained a grimace. "You are in no position to put conditions."

"Neither are you to refuse them. Do you know who I am?"

Nicole sent an aggravated glare at Orlan, who was too busy evaluating Zoro and putting some safe distance in between them. Of course they knew who he was. And, as far as Orlan knew, they were fucked the moment she let go of their hostage. "Nicole, don't let go of him. If the swordsman tries something go ahead and stab him, it's not like it matters if we hand blondie in dead."

"Well, not to meddle in your ponderations, but if you do kill me I don't think he'll waste more than two seconds in sending you both to your respective graves, and I would really hate to see a beautiful flower such as yourself in such a state, especially since I wouldn't be able to kick his ass for it afterwards," Sanji intervened. And it was a warning to both sides. He was giving some serious advice to his captors in order to save them an unneeded fate and save himself a rather inconvenient death, but he was also warning Zoro. He didn't want any major damage inflicted to Nicole; it didn't matter if she was an enemy who played dirty and wanted to see him dead.

Zoro seemed to get the hint as he buried his eyes into Sanji's and glared daggers at him, fury firing him up. Was Sanji really putting conditions here? Just because it was a woman they were dealing with? Well, of course the bastard would! Zoro was seriously fuming. That limited his range of possibly successful action courses, but he knew he had no choice but to try and humor Sanji if he didn't want a major unneeded fight between them to start. Last time he had saved Sanji's ass, when that brunette was strangling him, he had actually killed her right in front of him, to which Sanji didn't comment on, but then again, Sanji had been about to die and barely kept a hold of his senses and probably only realized the woman's fate later on, after having had to deal with the blame he put on himself for Nami's injury while coming back to life. Plus, he had been at his lowest point and most likely unable to be mad at him for that since he had all of his energy dedicated to hating himself. That didn't mean he would let a second one pass. Sanji's issue with women had never been as sensitive a topic as it was now, and Zoro making the wrong move could end up utterly _bad_ between them. And their already complicated relationship didn't need that. At all. That didn't make Zoro less angry and frustrated at the fact that Sanji was lowering his own chances of survival in order to lessen that witch's wounds. Fucking chivalrous idiot. After all the hits he had received lately because of his attitude towards women, he still wouldn't change.

"Nicole, don't," Orlan ordered. And Nicole put even more pressure on Sanji's back, which maybe reassured her.

Sanji tried his best not to wince. Now it was plain painful. Shit, if she kept on pushing he may have a serious problem.

Zoro saw the slightest furrow in Sanji's eyebrows and his fury was slowly replaced by silent worry and anxiety. He knew Sanji well enough as to rank him as one of the best fighters and strongest people he had ever met, no doubt, but he also knew that the spot the knife was being indented in was a critical one. And he knew that unless Sanji tried to avoid being pierced, which the bastard wouldn't in favour of the damn woman's safety, further pressure could fuck Sanji up. As in fuck him up _for real_. He didn't even want to think of the effects an indentation there could have. Shit, he had to stop thinking and act instead.

All the while, Orlan had slowly made his way next to Nicole and the cook, keeping a safe distance from him. Zoro clenched his teeth, his eyes calculating.

Zoro wasn't even looking at Sanji anymore, but the blonde saw Zoro's strategy before he executed it. Sanji kept his eyes on Zoro, reading him, as he lightly moved his leg and kicked Orlan's ankle. It was a small kick but if someone knew how to destabilize a bastard with a mere tap of his shoe, that someone was Sanji. And just as he was doing this and Orlan slightly tripped, losing his focus for a second, Zoro launched against them and pierced his sword in his abdomen, quickly turning around and hitting Nicole's face with Wâdo's flat side in a swing, Sanji titling his head to the side just in time to uncover her face and avoid the hit. Zoro restrained himself and avoided using the sharp edge, but he didn't hold back one bit when he packed the force to hit her. She let out a high pitched shriek and fell to the ground, consciousness leaving her as fast as blood was leaving her now very broken nose, her teeth scattered on the floor. Zoro took a second to look at her now unmoving form and cursed.

Shit, that had been an ugly hit, he had pretty much fucked up her face, and pretty badly. Sanji would probably give him shit about it. Not that he had had any other possibility from the angle he had been forced to attack from, else he would have killed her, which was worse of an outcome, since the only other exposed targets in her body were her neck and her side, which he couldn't have hit horizontally with the soft side of the blade since Sanji's body was covering that angle, which only left him with the only possibility to pierce her like a pinchito. Which Sanji would have dreaded even more. So break her face it was.

The mental cursing session lasted less than two seconds, his attention quickly switching to Sanji, who had fallen on his knees to the ground and was now really _really_ still, trying not to strain his back. The swing movement before hitting Nicole had given her one extra second to bury her knife even deeper in his skin and bones as a reaction to the events, nearly crossing the line where it would have been fatal. Sanji had let himself drop just in time and avoided major consequences, but the pain was fucking intense and had stolen his breath away, all of his muscles tensed as he tried to be stiller than a rock to make it go away, mentally checking the gravity of the wound. Oh, shit, it fucking hurt. That had been close.

He felt Zoro's presence hovering over his kneeled figure and sure enough the swordsman ended up kneeling by his side, a surprisingly careful and gentle hand barely grazing his wound as he checked it. Zoro scrunched his nose. That had been _really_ close, damn it. He was angry, and his heart beat too fast as the anxiousness and tension of the whole situation kicked in. If he had been free to do what he wanted he would have pierced her neck and be done with it before she had the chance to aggravate the wound and almost cause fatal consequences for Sanji. The thin difference between striking but temporary pain and the aftermath Zoro didn't want to think about had been left to a stroke of luck, which they had been lucky enough to have on their side. Else the knife would have pierced between Sanji's vertebrae and the rest would have been history.

Sanji's breath came out ragged and forceful, every intake hurting as he still did his best to remain still, the pain slowly subsiding. The damn knife had scratched bone, he could feel it. Zoro's breath near his ear wasn't much better, but his came out hard and heavy because of the tension and anxiousness. Zoro's fingers burned against his wound and the closeness was almost too much, but Sanji didn't complain.

"You are a fucking idiot," Zoro ended up growling by his ear, the restrained anger evident in his voice. But there was something else, Sanji could tell. Uncovered worry. It's not as if he was even trying to hide his concern for him anymore. Sanji tried to brush the feeling this ignited away and scoffed instead.

"Fuck off."

Zoro clenched his jaw at how weak the cook's voice had come out, his hand instinctively hovering over Sanji's wound again.

"They were easy," he noted with a hard tone that barely concealed how pissed off he was. He said it not only as a way of telling him off but also as to keep Sanji's attention elsewhere instead of the pain. Not that Sanji couldn't handle it himself, but Zoro's heart was beating fast and his worry knew no limits anymore.

Sanji took his words in, eyes tightly shut. He knew what Zoro meant. They were easy to fight but he had surrendered to them and now he was hurt and had almost been _seriously_ wounded because of that. And Zoro wasn't having any of this shit. Damn it, he really wasn't in the mood for Zoro to tell him off or recriminate him anything; he had enough trouble with his own brain. He thought that he was lucky that Zoro hadn't yet seen the bullet wound grazing his side, else he would be even more pissed off. A few minutes passed as Sanji slowly eased to the pain and let it wash away, his breath slowly steadying, before he answered.

"I know they were, so don't expect me to praise you for your cameo in _my_ fight, moss head; it wasn't your flashiest show. Plus, you fucking broke her face, I should kick your very sorry ass for that."

His voice came out a bit strangled but still steady, which meant the pain was going away, his muscles slowly relaxing as he allowed himself some movement again. The reply told Zoro that, as worried as he was for Sanji's wellbeing, he was going to be okay and that it was already getting better.

Good.

Zoro wasted no time in grabbing a fistful of his jacket and dragging a very surprised Sanji to his feet only to slam him against the nearest wall. Sanji couldn't help but to let out a strangled cry when his injured back strained and then hit the hard surface, making a wave of pain wash over him yet again, leaving him out of breath and almost falling to his knees, which he would have done hadn't Zoro been holding him in place.

Zoro brushed the worry that pained sound caused him off and concentrated on letting out his anger instead.

"You do realize that you were letting yourself be fucking handed in to the marines just because your captor was a woman, right," he sneered, his tone low and deadly, his eyes locked to Sanji's shut ones, his face inches away from his. He watched as Sanji inhaled deeply through his nose in an attempt to make the piercing pain wash away. Shit, it really hurt. That didn't make Zoro falter though. He had a message to deliver and he wasn't planning on stopping until it reached home. "I want you to fucking listen to me, bastard! Do you realize that you have fucking surrendered to a woman just because of her sex and almost got yourself killed_ again_? Do you even know what they would have done to you had you been handed in to the marines, you coward?! And you would have just let it fucking happen because she was a woman! What about you start respecting yourself a bit more and don't give your life the same value you would give to trash when balancing it against women?!"

Sanji's face scrunched even more. This time it wasn't only in pain but also in fury. He forced himself to let a smirk out, his eyes finally fluttering open to dig themselves into Zoro's.

"You make it sound as if you respect me or give my life more value than trash," he spat, his tone oozing bitter sarcasm.

"Are you even listening to what I am saying?!" Zoro yelled at him, losing his patience.

Sanji felt the pressure of Zoro's arm against his chest pinning him against the wall intensify, his breath almost cut again. Now he was pissed.

He ignored the deafening pain when he raised his leg and pushed Zoro away with the sole of his shoe, making him stumble backwards. Sanji quickly lowered his limb and readjusted his body to the new wave of pain, cursing himself and Zoro for it.

"You have some nerve telling me off, calling _me_ a coward and picking on _my _behavior, as if yours was any better!" he snapped.

"The fuck are you talking about!"

"Playing dumb now, are we? You've been acting like a fucking coward yourself, avoiding your issues like an idiot in the worst possible way so that you don't have to face them! Don't lecture me on what to do and what not when you fuck up as well, and don't fucking pretend you care about me, being all protective and mature, when you have just gone and already thrown this relationship through the window for the sake of the comfortableness of not facing your problems, you hypocrite!"

Zoro blinked at Sanji, suddenly at loss of what to say. Sanji was fuming, supporting himself against the wall and murdering him with a frankly threatening glare. Sanji was silently cursing himself for letting it all out like he had, but it needed to be said, as embarrassing as it was to start talking about 'their relationship'. The moment was probably not the best, but hell, was he pissed. The shitty swordsman had the nerve to tell him off when the one who should be the angriest was Sanji after the whole 'Dusky Nights' thing Zoro had been trying to pull. There was a reason why Sanji had left the casino and ended up in this mess to start with, and that had been Zoro's idiotic behavior which had done nothing but disrespect whatever they had been trying to keep afloat. Who was that bastard to talk about respect?!

Zoro stared at him in confusion, the anger at how stupid Sanji was battling against how guilty he felt for his actions when trying to wipe his problems with Sanji away. Hadn't he followed Sanji to say sorry? How had he ended up telling him off instead? Shit, he was doing this shit utterly wrong! But it's not like Sanji didn't deserve being told off either. Shit, Zoro swore he was going crazy.

And then the thought sank in that Sanji was fine. Wounded but fine. He was standing in front of him, showering him with his anger and reproaches and actually having a point there, which pissed Zoro off, but he was _fine_. For a moment, right before attacking their opponents, Zoro had feared he wouldn't be. He had feared he wouldn't be fast enough to get Sanji out of the trouble he had stupidly gotten himself into. And he realized that every time Sanji got himself hurt his own fury escalated and made him lose it. He realized it was worry that made him explode and take it out on Sanji, even if he also had a point in everything he had just recriminated him. But the sight of Sanji's more than pissed off face told him that he was alright, that as much as he had been an idiot he was fine in the end. Just as he realized it, a huge wave of relief washed over him. And as much as he wanted to keep on yelling at Sanji for being an idiot and almost getting himself killed, which he felt he had the right to do, he hadn't run after him for that. He had run after him to apologize like a man, because there was as much truth in Sanji's words as in his, and he wasn't going to waste another moment to do so. He was very aware that, hadn't they been lucky, he might haven't had the chance to apologize to him ever again.

"Are you planning on saying anything at all or would you rather spend your saliva with Aila? Feel free to go and have her make you forget about your worries, I won't keep you here if you are in a rush," Sanji's venomous voice broke his line of thought as his eyes travelled back to Sanji's hurt ones. He _really_ sounded hurt.

Shit, he had done this _very_ wrong. And Sanji wasn't even trying to hide his hurt or anger or whatever it was anymore, nor his reasons. Sanji was coming out clean, there was no mask there anymore. And the fact that Zoro wasn't doing the same was disappointing him, to the point where, if Zoro didn't say or do something now, he would most likely not be given the chance afterwards. Sanji was fed up and tired of this shit and this was the last chance he was giving him, or else he would stop trying for the both of them. And Zoro knew that once Sanji let go there was going to be nothing left to pick back up or rebuild.

So he let go of his pride and did what he had to. Just as Sanji shook his head with hurt and started to walk away, the doors he had tried to leave open all this time already closing, Zoro got a strong hold of his wrist and stopped him.

"I am sorry."

Sanji didn't fight him, he didn't try to walk away, but he didn't turn to face him either. He just stayed still, letting Zoro know that he was listening. Which wasn't enough for Zoro.

"Sanji."

Sanji stood even more still when he heard his name being pronounced by the swordsman. He hated how it had this effect on him. He truly hated it with everything he had.

"Sanji, I need you to listen to me. And I need you to look at me," Zoro insisted, his hold on Sanji's wrist stronger with each sentence spoken.

Sanji shut his eyes tight in an attempt to regain control of his emotions, letting out a deep sigh. He was both angry and relieved. He had been just about to give up on Zoro, he really had been, and he still was pissed off at him and at his idiotic attitude and at his way of calling his name, but at the same time this weird emotion had flourished when he heard the swordsman apologize, something intense he couldn't quite describe. And Sanji might be intense himself, but he hated it when emotions took the reigns of his being.

He slowly turned around to face Zoro but he spoke before the greenhead had the chance to continue doing so.

"Save it for later."

And man, was Zoro pissed now. He was in the middle of fucking apologizing, pride long forgotten, and Sanji just went and dismissed it like that?

"What the-"

"Unless you want these bastards to wake up and attack us yet again while we are having a chat, which would be quite stupid of us," Sanji cut in.

Zoro blinked at him and came back to reality. Shit, why was this so difficult? He just wanted to apologize, for fuck's sake! But Sanji did have a point. So he sighed and let go of him, crossing his arms across his chest and looking anywhere but the blonde. He really couldn't do it, not when he had just been about to bare himself to the man.

"What do you suggest?" he muttered.

"Tying them."

Simple answer. Zoro liked it when things were simple. Shame it made him look like an idiot for asking.

"Good."

And so they did.

Zoro didn't miss how Sanji brushed an apologetic hand against Nicole's cheek as he stared at her now fucked up face once they were all tied together after being carried to an even narrower and darker street. The kind of street nobody would walk through at that time of the night, which meant they wouldn't have anyone helping them for a long long while. Zoro scrunched his nose in a pained way when he saw the gesture. She had been about to either hand him in to the marines or kill him, and yet there was Sanji, showing somewhat of a sweet apologetic gesture to her unconscious self. Zoro would have been irked if he hadn't had other things to think about that actually made him even more anxious. It's not like he had any hope of changing that side of Sanji at this stage. And as much as he hated it, he had to also admire it. Sanji had strong principles which he lived by no matter what, no matter if they hurt him, no matter how other people would think they were stupid and self-harming. Zoro hated that side of him and respected it to a fundamental level at the same time. Didn't piss him off any less though. Neither was he about to stop trying getting Sanji to stop acting like this, even if it was useless.

"Done. We should probably warn the others. We should go home for the night, there might be more of their men around," Sanji commented as he stood up from his crouching position after giving one last apologetic glance at Nicole. Zoro caught a glimpse of how the blonde winced at the action, his hand instinctively retreating to his back. It must hurt like a bitch. Chopper would have to take a look at it.

Then he saw how his hand hovered over his side as it came back to its natural position and Zoro noticed there was another wound there. He felt his jaw clenching at the sight but said nothing. Those wounds would have definitely not have happened hadn't there been a woman involved and they both knew it.

When Sanji turned around, he gave him a weird look and started walking his way out of the alley, Zoro following shortly behind in silence. It was only when they reached the alley where everything had happened that Zoro regained the courage to talk again.

"Wait a minute, will you?"

Sanji sighed and stopped on his tracks, slowly turning to face him, his eyes half avoiding him. He didn't talk though, he just waited.

Zoro sighed as well and ran a hand through his face, anxiety taking a toll on him. He really wasn't used to this shit but it had never been so bad. It was the right thing to do, hell it was his last opportunity to try and amend things! And yet there was this deep emotion inside him as he felt as if he was baring himself to Sanji with the action.

"I am sorry," he finally repeated as he forced his eyes to glue to Sanji's. "I've been an idiot. A massive one."

He was waiting for one of Sanji's sassy remarks such as, 'sure as hell you have', but it never came. The blond was simply standing there, looking at him with a weird intensity he couldn't quite pinpoint. Zoro could tell he was still angry at him, but there was something else in his eyes, something that made his heart clench a bit.

"I… I don't know what the hell happened in… in here," he continued, pointing at his own head with frustration. "I was an idiot to think that mindless paid sex would make this any better. I was stupid to even consider it. And… and I know I have disappointed you, I know this is not how we are supposed to be dealing with it, I know it's a coward way of running away of our problems, I know this is not showing you any respect whatsoever but… I don't know, I guess I wanted an escape, and I just happened to find an easy one."

Sanji's eyebrow twitched and Zoro could see how his teeth clenched. His speech halted as he watched his reaction, worried about what he would say, because he knew Sanji wanted to say something. And so he did.

"Did you, or did you not sleep with her?"

His tone was cold, but underneath the surface there was a slight trembling that indicated he feared the answer.

Zoro widened his eyes a bit when he realized that he hadn't clarified that yet, but he also felt hurt that Sanji was considering the fact of him actually going further than seriously thinking about the option. His voice came out weaker that he wanted when he answered. "No, Sanji, of course not, I…"

"Don't you dare say you wouldn't because you know chances are that you would have ended up accepting."

Zoro closed his mouth again, his gaze desperately looking for something to hold onto in Sanji's. But Sanji was pissed and he knew he expected better of him. He had always expected the best of Zoro, because he believed he would always give the best. That's why this whole thing had irked him so much. It was so _not_ like Zoro to act as he had been doing lately. It was almost as if he had been dealing with another person.

"Look, I _am_ sorry," Zoro tried again, his voice firmer and insisting. "I don't know what got into me, and I had seriously been considering it, true, but I didn't do anything in the end, and I know for a fact that if I had I would have regretted it. I know it's not the way to solve our issues, I know I was wrong and… shit, cook, I really hate this kind of things, why is this so complicated?" he growled, his hands in his hair.

"You make it more complicated than it needs to be," Sanji pointed out.

"You are one to talk," Zoro retaliated with a glare.

"You've been the one to act like an idiot, so shut up."

Zoro sighed and looked away. He _really_ hated this shit.

"So you didn't sleep with her."

"No."

"But you did consider it."

"Yes."

"As in, seriously considering the option."

"… yes."

"Because you thought it would be such a great idea to wipe our issues away with paid mindless sex."

Zoro glared at him yet again. Okay, Sanji was starting to be a little bitch here.

"Look, I already-"

"You do realize that you would have fucked _this_ up," Sanji interrupted him as he signaled at both of them repeated times. And Zoro realized that he was dead serious. He wasn't trying to piss him off as revenge, he was trying to make him realize what he had been about to do and Zoro couldn't help but deeply stare at him, no comeback whatsoever in mind. "You do realize that, had you done it, whatever it's going on between us would be over. Not because of how difficult it is to keep it together already, but because of the fact that you couldn't respect it enough to keep your runaway desires at bay."

Sanji's stare had hardened and now Zoro felt as if he was piercing his soul.

"It's not the sex, Zoro, don't get me wrong. You can hook up with whoever the hell you want and so will I. It's the fact that you put our relationship, or whatever you want to call it, at the same level as paid sex by thinking it could, in any way, help our case or erase whatever has been going on between us," Sanji continued. "You'll have to excuse me, but if it takes this little to erase all of what we have been going through then it wasn't even worth fighting for from the beginning, was it?"

Zoro swallowed. Hard. _Shit_. He had already realized where Sanji's anger and disappointment came from, but now that he put it down that way it all became clearer, his guilt strengthening inside him.

"Did you really think it was a good idea to suggest me to do the same as you? Did it make you feel any better?"

Zoro found himself shaking his head. He really couldn't think of what to say. Shit, he had been an asshole.

"Look, I haven't dealt with this brilliantly either, but at least I have respected it enough to try to fight for it. And you have just been about to _give up_. That's where I draw the line. It's both of us who need to fight if we want to go back to normal, I am tired of doing so alone, Zoro, so this must change. Either you make an effort as well or I won't anymore."

Zoro's eyes went to the sky, the moon slightly covered by clouds. He hated this situation, he hated being told off. But then again, Sanji had never been as straightforward when expressing his feelings as he was now, and each one of his words held truth in them, so he couldn't help but listen. He was actually surprised that Sanji was giving him this much time, that he was talking so much and so clearly about their relationship, pride also put aside. Sanji was making a proper effort to set things right, he was only trying to make sure that Zoro was with him in this. Or else he wouldn't try anymore. And it was only fair in Zoro's eyes. As much as he'd rather have jumped off a cliff before getting another chance to get scolded by the cook. It didn't do his ego any favours.

"What does _this_ mean to you, Zoro?"

The question brought Zoro back to Earth, his eye back to Sanji's intense ones. Something inside him clenched at the question and he felt his heart thump hard against his chest. By 'this' he meant their relationship, whatever it was. And Zoro knew that his answer could change the future of it. Sanji was too fed up to have any of his shit anymore. So Zoro gathered all of his courage and forced himself to be sincere, to speak nothing but the truth. For the sake of whatever he still had and wanted to maintain with Sanji.

"It means _a lot_."

His voice came out firmer than he had expected, which was good. And it came out as a blow of utter sincerity that kept Sanji silent for a while. Afraid that he hadn't been clear enough, Zoro felt the urge to fill the silence.

"I don't want to lose it, Sanji. I want to fight for it and I am sorry that I was enough of an idiot to almost fuck it up."

His heart beat like crazy in his chest in expectation. Shit, that was the most honest he had been with Sanji so far. And it was already too intense. But it had to be done.

Zoro's words reached Sanji like a punch. They were what Sanji had wanted to hear and he would have been utterly disappointed hadn't Zoro said them, but hearing them out loud had more of an effect on him than he thought it would as something twisted inside him, emotion filling his chest as relieve washed in.

He _almost_ smiled.

"Good to hear. Is it worth fighting for, then? I want a sincere answer, Zoro, I really don't feel like wasting my time anymore if it's not going to be worth it," he finally managed, his voice steadier than he felt.

"It is."

Sanji slowly nodded, his eyes scanning him, but Zoro didn't look away. He wasn't going to let the uncomfortableness of their situation take him back again. Relief kicked in like a wave when he saw Sanji's lips slightly curl into a smirk which could have been a hidden relieved smile.

"Good."

"Doesn't mean it will stop being awkward all of the sudden," Zoro felt the need to clarify.

"That's not what I meant and you know it, it's obviously not going to go back to normal just like that. But at least now I know we are both trying," Sanji responded. "… for the sake of the crew."

For the sake of the crew. Of course.

They both stayed in silence for a while, their stares anywhere but on each other anymore. Everything kicked back into motion when Zoro heard the familiar click of Sanji's lighter and his gaze travelled to Sanji's hands and lips as he lighted his cigarette, the gesture bringing a weird kind of peace inside him. Zoro then realized how much more relieved he suddenly felt, how something that had been so utterly bad and driving him crazy was slowly becoming a bit easier, or at least more reassuring. If they both tried, they were going to be fine and overcome that bump on the road. An unconscious smile tugged at his lips until Sanji looked back at him with a questioning raised eyebrow, the smile being wiped away instantly in embarrassment.

"Let's go warn the others. We should call it a night for tonight."

Zoro agreed and followed Sanji out of the alley, his muscles less tense than before, his brain giving him less shit than before, some sense of calmness regained. Apologizing had turned out to be the right thing to do, and he could tell that not only had Sanji needed to hear it, but he had also desperately needed to say it. Since Sanji wasn't looking, he let out another smile, happy with himself.

When they were nearing the casino doors, they were surprised to find a very agitated looking Brook waving at them in the street.

"Where have you two been?" he demanded, and though he kept his tone polite as always, there was a certain urgency in his voice that told them that things weren't going too well.

"We had a bit of a problem out here, plus this bastard got us lost. We should go home for tonight," Sanji explained, as they closed the last few meters in between them, brows furrowed.

"Oi!" Zoro protested.

"Well, that's exactly why I was looking for you, gentlemen," Brook responded.

Zoro raised an eyebrow at that. Had the rest also encountered problems?

"Why?"

"Because Nami said so."

"Has she already emptied all the pockets in the casino or what?"

"No. She is losing."

Now both Zoro's and Sanji's eyebrows shot up in shock. _Nami_ losing? Last time they checked that word wasn't applicable to her when it came to games.

"We have lost half of what we earned tonight. Robin and Usopp have already retired, Nami is still trying to get something back but it looks ugly, I think we'll be retreating before losing anything else," Brook explained.

Now, that was a first. They wasted no time in walking into the casino only to see a very desperate looking Nami looking anything but able to hold her own ground. The sight shocked them. She really never lost.

Zoro then saw Aila watching the game with half a smirk and he found himself crossing the distance between them only to grab her arm and turn her to him, the feeling that she had something to do with it haunting him.

"Care to explain?"

Aila gave him an amused look, not retreating from his touch.

"Explain what?"

"What's going on?"

"Your best player is losing."

"I can see that."

"Are you trying to ask me if I have anything to do with it? It's a bit insulting, don't you think? Loss is a possibility when you play, I consider it a big mistake to assume it won't happen."

Zoro glared at her. He didn't like her smug face. And seeing Nami's distressed one in that situation didn't sit well with him either, it just felt wrong.

Then he saw Sanji glaring at someone and he followed his gaze until he located Nami's nightmare. He was young, he was attractive, he was already smirking in triumph and he appeared to him as the male version of Aila at first sight.

"Who is he?"

Not that he really needed to ask.

"Allen. My brother. I warned your boss that you should be careful with him, but no one listened. As far as I know you have already lost more than half of what you gained tonight. She has already made long-nose there and the pretty brunette retire, but I think she is still waiting for a miracle. It's clearly a mistake, in my opinion, you are only going to lose more money."

The thought came to his mind that they _needed_ that money. They had to fully restock and they needed their ship repaired, which in Terevera did cost more than they could afford.

"Oi, witch," he called as he came to stand by Nami's side, a strong hand on her shoulder. "Enough is enough."

Nami didn't even look at him. She was sweaty and her hands slightly trembling, he didn't know if it was because of the anger, the frustration or the sudden insecurity that this new situation brought to her.

Zoro growled in annoyance as she ignored him and he looked for Luffy, locking eyes with him, silently telling him that he should order her to stop. Luffy was actually serious and watching Nami's every movement intently. He chose not to say anything. He trusted their navigator enough for her to make her own choices but they all knew this was going nowhere. Half the casino was surrounding them as they watched in awe how that young man kept defeating the woman who had been destroying the casino all night long without as much as breaking a sweat.

Sanji kept staring at Allen, tension visible in his body. The guy wasn't even nervous, he just watched with a smirk as Nami made her decisions. He was something else, they could tell. And there wasn't going to be any stroke of luck helping them, not with this guy.

Robin and Usopp watched the scene with their faces contorted in concentration. They had given up long ago. Chopper was on Luffy's head, his eyes a bit fearful and definitely shocked at the weird scene displayed in front of them. The sight of the reindeer reminded Zoro that Sanji had some injuries to take care of, but he decided he would be telling him later.

"Oi, Nami," he insisted.

"My win," Allen said as he displayed another row of cards.

Nami watched as her money was taken away, her nails painfully digging in her closed fists. She closed her eyes. She knew she had to stop, even if it would cost her her pride.

"Your win," she conceded as she stood up and collected what they had left, her eyes buried in Allen's. She was giving up.

The scene striked them as weird and _wrong_, but nobody said anything.

"Let's call it a night," she announced, leaving the place faster than lightning, the remaining money tight in her hands. They all nodded and followed her.

Aila patted her brother's back and smiled at Luffy.

"I told you it wasn't a good idea."

Luffy looked back at her and ended up drawing a grin. "Hahaha, good game, your brother is really cool!"

He gave them a thumbs up and left, quickly catching up with Nami. Sanji watched as their captain took Nami's shoulders in his arm and led her out of there. The way her shoulders trembled told him that she might have been crying, but at least Luffy was there for her.

Sanji sighed and followed them, leaving Zoro behind.

Aila looked at him with a small smile.

"Figured yourself out yet?"

Zoro frowned at her. There was something else to the siblings, he could tell, but he couldn't quite pinpoint what. Allen was still silent, just watching him with an amused look as he interacted with his sister.

"Enjoy the bounty," he ended up saying. And then left. He heard Aila chuckling, but didn't turn around to see her face.

* * *

They were all moody when they came back to the Thousand Sunny. Nami was ready to kill someone and only wanted to go to sleep, and nobody was in the mood for partying. Everything had been going great, they just couldn't fathom how it had ended up this bad. They didn't have much more than a quarter of what they had gathered that night left. Which was bad.

"Damn, that bro was really something else," Franky commented, letting himself plop on a kitchen chair. Franky was worried. Of course he was. He needed the money to repair the Thousand Sunny or else it wouldn't properly navigate for long after they set sail.

Nami glared at him for bringing it up, but he didn't seem to notice.

"So, what's the plan for tomorrow?" Sanji tiredly asked as he prepared some consolation snacks for everyone.

He did look tired. Zoro felt just as tired as he watched the cook's fluid movements in the kitchen, unable to get his eyes off him. Watching him work was relaxing, in a way.

"The plan is that you'll fight and earn us much needed money. You have to win, heard that?" Nami answered with a bitter and harsher tone than needed. No one blamed her. She was just tired and her pride had been hurt. She'd be bitchy for a while and they'd all have to put up with it, then it'd be gone.

Sanji just nodded and resumed cooking. Zoro was still watching him with his cheek resting against his hand, the conversation only half registering. He felt really sleepy and tired and Sanji's movements were lulling him to sleep.

"Zoro, did you listen to me?"

Zoro's eyes slowly averted to focus on Nami. He lazily nodded.

"Will you two make the effort to fight along and don't mess up? I want you to be serious about it, I don't care what the hell you issues are, you'll put them aside and work together, is that clear?"

Well, that was harsh. And it plainly exposed the well-known fact that they _had_ issues. Not that it made it less uncomfortable, they didn't need it to be mentioned out loud in front of everyone. It pissed Zoro off to no end that she had just said it like that for everyone to hear, but he didn't find it in him to argue. He was tired of arguing. His eye travelled back to Sanji, who was now looking at him as he answered Nami for both of them.

"No worries, Nami, we've got this," he reassured her.

Zoro was glad that they had had the talk. Now he felt less anxious about the whole thing. It would still be awkward as fuck, but now he felt like they could do it, being themselves and not some strangers they didn't know anymore. He felt himself slightly smirking at Sanji, his way of agreeing with him. And he caught a glimpse of a smile in Sanji's face right before the cook turned around to keep on cooking. His gaze kept glued to his back as he worked, though, his movements bringing him some weird peace of mind.

They were unaware that the crew were all looking at them with bewildered expressions. The pair almost looked… tamed? Out of nowhere. Whatever had been utterly wrong between them was washing away and it showed to anyone willing to watch.

Luffy grinned at himself. It hadn't been that great of a night, but he had the feeling it was going to get better.

The feeling strengthened when Sanji served the snacks and Luffy proclaimed that they were the best he had tasted in a while, to which Sanji grinned. Zoro was still looking at him. Sanji pretended he hadn't noticed, but he had. He would have told Zoro to fuck off but he was too tired for it, as uncomfortable as his gaze made him feel.

And just as he was watching the blonde, Zoro suddenly perked up in realization, telling himself off for having forgotten to mention it before and wanting to kick Sanji's irritating ass for not doing so himself.

"Oi, Chopper, the shit cook got wounded tonight, one of the wounds was nearly critical, I almost forgot to mention it."

Sanji glared at him with something similar to hatred as Chopper's scolding started to fill their ears, his hooves starting to poke him everywhere and letting out a scandalized cry when he saw the wound in his back, which he quickly qualified as_ bad_. Sanji didn't stop glowering daggers at Zoro until he was forced to leave the room so that Chopper could treat him, the promise of revenge imprinted in his eyes. And Zoro couldn't help but teasingly smirk at him. Now, this felt so much better, being able to piss off the cook like that. A sense of satisfaction filled him as he sat back in his chair, amused at Sanji's 'not this shit again' expression.

"What happened?"

Robin's suave voice brought him back to reality and he sighed. He hated having to explain things, but he did and they all listened with a frown. He avoided saying that Sanji had surrendered himself to the enemy and almost been effectively handed in to the marines just because of a woman. They didn't need to know that. It was Sanji's issue to deal with. But he did tell them that some pirate hunters had located them and tried to get Sanji, so they should be more careful from now on in Terevera.

"It's not that surprising, it's never safe for us, but this one was close," Franky commented, and they all nodded.

"Let's all make sure to keep our eyes open and it should be alright," Nami said, running a tired hand through her face, her tone less aggressive than before as tiredness started to take a toll on her. "For now let's all get some sleep. Specially you, Zoro. You need to fight tomorrow. You need to be at the stadium at 10 am. Go tell Sanji."

"Why me?" Zoro protested. He swore the witch lived to make his life miserable.

"Because I say so. Good night."

* * *

Zoro waited against the infirmary wall until Chopper finished patching Sanji up, the blonde not complaining once. As per usual.

"Can he fight tomorrow?" he asked when Chopper hopped out of the chair he had been sat in.

Chopper sighed. "I wouldn't recommend it but then again he'll do what he wants and it's not like something too bad will happen if he does, so whatever."

Sanji smirked in amusement at poor Chopper's resignation.

"We could always ask Luffy to take this one," Chopper tried.

Zoro and Sanji looked at each other for a moment. Using this excuse to avoid fighting together would make things much easier for them, it was almost tempting to accept. But Sanji's pride was in the way, and the will to make things right was stronger than any wish for comfortableness. And Sanji _never_ backed out of a fight, anyways.

"Nah," he answered, his eyes still fixed in Zoro's. Zoro simply shrugged at him in response. It was his choice.

Chopper cursed but didn't try anything else. No point in doing so.

"Okay, good night. At least get some rest."

And he left them alone in the infirmary, Sanji still sat on the bed and Zoro still standing against the wall.

"10 am at the stadium," he announced, breaking the deafening silence.

"Good."

"Make sure not to get in my way, shit cook."

Maybe it was the teasing tone, maybe it was how naturally it had flowed out of Zoro's mouth, but the words had Sanji grinning back like Zoro hadn't seen him doing for a while.

"My line, asshole."

And Zoro fully beamed back, a sense of familiarity easing knots inside of him. The grin was wiped away when Sanji stood up, smile still in place, and patted his shoulder as he left the infirmary, leaving Zoro standing there with a dumbfounded face and a hand unconsciously hovering over the spot where Sanji had patted him. It had been a camaraderie gesture he hardly received from the cook. And he wanted to slap himself for how stupidly happy it had just made him feel.

"Bastard," he growled.

**TBC **

* * *

**A/N: **Okay, first of all, I am REALLY sorry for the delay! I have been stuck with a lot of work to do and I haven't had the time to write anything, so I do apologize because I know I am updating this really late! I still have a lot of work to do so I probably will take a while to write something else, but I was really inspired this weekend so I managed to have this one finished, which I am happy about.

That being said, I really hope you'll enjoy this chapter, ater being stuck with it for a long long time it finally came out fluidly and I am quite happy about how it turned out, especially taking into account how I struggled at first. Well, we finally have Zoro and Sanji man up and speaking their minds, which is a huge step for them! I hope you are happy about it, they were having quite a hard time lately, it was about time things eased up a bit! Not that they are going to stop being difficult, these two are bound to always make things more complicated than they are but at least they have come to some kind of truce.

I really hope you enjoy it, and please leave comments, they really do help! :) Have a really nice week!


	24. Chapter 24 - Doing Well

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**Chapter 24**

**Doing Well**

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Sanji woke up early that morning in order to get breakfast ready for everyone. Nami had told them they needed to be at the stadium at ten, which was probably due to bureaucratic reasons since the competition didn't officially start until twelve. Which meant his crew would take the chance to sleep longer than Zoro or him would and would probably still be sleeping by the time they left the ship, so he'd rather leave everything ready for when they woke up.

When he made his way into the kitchen with a weary yawn, he noticed a few things on the countertop. There was a map of Terevera with precise indications on how to get to the stadium, which was probably Nami's doing. Had there been only one in the city, it wouldn't have been necessary at all, but Terevera was infested with stadiums and whatnot, so Sanji felt grateful that Nami had thought of indicating them how to get there, else they would have been wandering around with the mere reference of 'the stadium' as a guide, also known as _lost_. He smiled to himself as he inspected the map and nodded, getting a fair idea of how to get there. Nami was an angel.

By the map's side there was a jar with blueish pills and another one with what Sanji would describe as a really bad smelling creamy substance in it, clean rolls of bandages prepared for him to use as well. Chopper's doing no doubt. A small note pasted on each jar contained the instructions for him to follow. Take one of the pills every two hours, apply the cream every four, starting as soon as he saw the jars. Sanji ignored the death threat at the end of each note in case he had the brilliant idea of not obeying their doctor's instructions and got himself a glass of water to help him swallow the first pill of the day without struggle.

He then leaned on the counter and lifted his shirt to examine his wounds, only to find them wrapped in bandages he forgot he had on. He sighed, cursing the need for all this stupid shit, but he knew that Chopper wouldn't make life easy for him if he didn't do as he was told, at least the day of the tournament, when he'd be straining his wounds extra hard. He proceeded to get his shirt off and managed to cut the bandages, letting them fall to the ground only to lazily pick them up and throw them in the bin, the gesture causing him slight pain. Sanji shrugged his nose. He didn't mind the bullet one as much, but the back gash was a bit unsettling.

He was opening the cream jar when he heard the kitchen door open with a creak. He knew who it was, but he still turned around to face him, compelling himself to act normally. It had worked last night and they had been fine, they just needed to keep it up like this, step by step.

"You are up early."

Zoro shrugged. "I slept enough."

Sanji shrugged back and diverted his attention to the jar, dipping his fingers in the creamy texture and taking a fairly thick amount, which he spread over the bullet wound as evenly as he could.

Zoro sat in a kitchen stool and groggily watched as Sanji took care of his own wounds, a more than familiar image by now. Still, as Sanji half turned his back to him, he got a glimpse of the wound in his lower back and felt his stomach clench a bit. That one had been _too_ close.

He was pulled out of his musings when he saw Sanji struggling to apply whatever shit Chopper had given him to his back, the rotating movement of his waist slightly strained, his face contorted in what could've been pain as he did his best to reach. Zoro sighed and stood up, walking towards him, not really thinking it through.

He didn't ask him if he needed help, he knew the answer would have been an angry no as Sanji's pride would have been openly at stake. He trusted the cook to kick him in the ass (or try to) if he really had a problem with Zoro helping him, so he just snatched the jar out of Sanji's hands without a word as nonchalantly as he could, which earned him a murderous glare but, much as he had expected it, no further attack came his way. Sanji completely turned his back to him in silent consent and Zoro noticed the tips of his ears turning red, his knuckles white as they pressed hard against the counter, all his back muscles contracted in a titanic effort of self-restrain.

Zoro would have let out an amused smirk at Sanji's mortification and embarrassment hadn't he been feeling uncomfortable himself. He couldn't help but realize that his attention had lingered for far too long along Sanji's sculpted back down to the hem of his pants, where a slight curve started to form, two dimples in his lower back tauntingly disrupting the otherwise smooth and even flesh. To which Zoro physically rolled his eyes at himself, muttering a silent 'what the fuck, not this shit again'. So much for acting normal around each other. He quickly dipped his fingers in the cream and forced his attention on the wound. It wasn't a big one, it was more like a small dip right in the center of his lower back, but it looked nasty as fuck.

"Not to hurry you up or anything, but I need to do my job before leaving, unlike others, moss head."

Sanji's more than pissed off voice brought Zoro back to reality and he clumsily spread the cream on the wound, making Sanji flinch at the roughness with which Zoro had basically stabbed his back all over again. Zoro didn't register the insult coming his way, far too entranced in the job at hand, forcing himself to be careful while getting other thoughts out of his head.

Zoro's touch went from rough and clumsy as fuck to careful and _gentle_ in the blink of an eye, and Sanji had to gather himself because, last time he checked, _gentle_ and _Roronoa Zoro_ didn't belong together. The soft brush of his fingertips against the wound was still a bit painful, but the overall feeling was unsettling, a big cloud of tension that hadn't been there in the beginning filling the room by the second. Sanji pressed his fists against the counter and told himself to calm the fuck down. They had gone from avoiding each other like the plague to _that_ overnight, which was sudden, but he knew it was a good sign and a big step towards rebuilding their always unstable relationship. Still, that moment was starting to feel too intimate and out of place.

"Oi, enough," he ordered with a tight voice. It was too early in the morning for this shit, he swore.

Zoro blinked and quickly retreated, washing his hands while keeping his gaze fixed on the suddenly interesting wall.

Sanji made his shoulders roll in an attempt to make tension dissipate, but that's as much as he moved as he waited for Zoro to get on with bandaging him. He knew the swordsman was going to do it and he knew he'd make a fool of himself if he tried to bandage himself, so instead of trying, failing and having to go through the humiliation to ask, he decided to wait instead. And Zoro got the big picture, because next thing he did after drying his hands was to get a hold of the clean bandages and gesturing for Sanji to come over. Which Sanji did, the standard glare in place. Sanji's way of murdering him with his eyes as he walked over made Zoro relax a bit, seeing some familiar ground in the otherwise awkward situation. He raised an eyebrow in response and proceeded as if nothing had happened, wrapping his arms around Sanji's torso several times to be able to get the bandages in place.

Sanji held his breath every time Zoro's face came anywhere near his ear or neck, visibly tensing at the lack of personal space, Zoro's arms caging him with each motion, their chests almost touching. At one point Sanji found himself titling his head a bit to look at what Zoro was doing. His heart came to a slight halt when he found his lips millimeters away from Zoro's temple and then his ear as Zoro closed the distance yet again. And instead of looking away, which he would have done hadn't he been half sleepy and weirded out by the situation (or so he told himself he would've), his gaze lingered on Zoro's face. The swordsman was too concentrated in the task at hand as to notice the intense look Sanji was giving him only a few inches away from his face. His eyes settled on Zoro's scar closing his once open and vivid dark eye, the scarred line creating a small space in between his eyelashes where it had cut. Sanji didn't properly realize what he had been doing until Zoro pulled away to tie the bandages, now standing right in front of Sanji, their faces right in front of each other's and only a few inches away. Zoro's gaze was set on his own hands working with the bandages, Sanji's had ended up on Zoro's lips, his eyes half lidded in a trance he didn't know he had gotten into.

Then Zoro lifted his head to inform him that it was done, and that's when they both froze in place, Zoro's mouth half open as he had been about to speak. Just as his eye landed on Sanji's he noticed where the blonde was looking at, and, fuck, was the stare _intense_. Sanji's brain took half a second to catch up with what was going on, his eyes flicking up to meet Zoro's in a 'oh, fuck' manner, his legs quickly coming to the rescue as they moved two quick steps back on their own, putting a much needed distance in between them. Zoro's hands were still hovering in the air where he had finished tying the bandages, his expression one of disbelief.

He watched as Sanji scrunched his nose in disgust in too much of a dramatic way. "Morning breath," he blurted as an explanation, trying to make his features match what he was saying instead of showing that he was freaking out. "Can't you fucking brush your teeth like normal people do?" Sanji prodded. And both him and Zoro knew that the tone was far too tight and slightly more high pitched than normal, but they both went with what would have been an ordinary 'Sanji reaction' any other day, both taking it as an excuse to escape the awkwardness of the situation they had just gotten into.

"Oi!" Zoro barked back, regaining a hold of himself. "I can say the same about you!"

"I fucking brushed my teeth already, I am not _you_, you caveman!"

"Oh, then it must be more of a chronical thing for you, I guess."

Sanji showed him his middle finger in all his glory, quickly putting his shirt back, suddenly feeling self-conscious about his upper body's nudity. Zoro stomped away announcing that he was going to brush his teeth, which he wouldn't have normally done. Sanji teased him and Zoro mocked him back in retaliation, that's how they worked, but he never acted according to what Sanji expected him to do. Any other day he would've probably opted for the always mature 'blow at Sanji's face' course of action. But, well, brushing his teeth was a fairly good excuse to get the fuck away from there for a few minutes and he was _so_ going to use it.

When Sanji heard the door closing behind Zoro, he took a deep breath and swore out loud. It had been going fairly well until he had decided to switch his brain off; what the fuck had he even been staring at! Not to mention that the situation had been fucking tense. It's not like he expected their issues to dissipate just like that, but damn it, that had been _awkward_. Images of the kiss they had shared weeks ago popped in his mind like a whirlwind. Sanji harshly breathed through his nose. Enough is _enough_. They had had 'the talk' last night, and it had gone well, very well actually, so he could only hope it would keep going that way. He just had to suppress these weird urges he had now and then, keep his brain in place and do his thing, then things would be alright. They had both freaked out a moment ago, but the situation was a very good reason to do so. At least it hadn't been as bad as before, when they couldn't even look at each other in the eye. At least their efforts to appear normal paid off since they could still throw taunts and glare hard at each other while making their way out of awkwardness, even if their voices were far too strained and their movements far too calculated as to come off as completely natural. Even with that, it was essentially a good sign. _That_ was a good sign.

And Sanji kept repeating this to himself as he started preparing breakfast and tried to forget the tingling sensation of Zoro's warm body almost pressed to his own.

* * *

Zoro aggressively splashed water to his face and slapped it several times, scowl in place, ordering himself to calm down. He then glared at his own reflection in the mirror with everything he had. "What the fuck?!" he demanded to himself, out loud.

But really. What. The actual. Fuck.

Zoro groaned, slapping his cheeks once again, scrunching his eyes tight close. _Calm the fuck_ _down_, he kept repeating in his head. Or maybe out loud, he didn't know anymore.

It had been weird but somehow familiar. The tension had clearly been there but it's as if they had just half sensed it through the whole thing, too immersed in the intensity of the moment instead, all the while forcing themselves to focus and pull themselves together. At least that's how Zoro had perceived it. Then there had been eye contact and it had all gone downhill, but, to be fair, this was one of the times they had handled it the best at the very end.

He couldn't get the image of Sanji intently looking at his lips out of his head, though. He didn't know if the blonde knew what he was doing, most likely not, but, damn, that had been a hell of a stare. Mentioning that Zoro had felt intimidated by it (not that he'd ever admit it) is quite self-explanatory. And, well, last time he had checked, Zoro never felt intimidated by a stare. This time he had, just that in a weird way. It had been enough to get him off track and freeze him in place until Sanji kicked in blurting out bullshit they both recognized as common ground.

Zoro sighed, his hands leaning on the washbasin as he stared at himself with a reprimanding glare. _Get your shit together, Roronoa_. _You have a competition to win along with this bastard, don't make things more difficult than needed._

Truth be told, their relationship had improved _a lot_ after the much needed talk last night. They were doing well. And Zoro told himself that they shouldn't let these little 'what the fuck' moments ruin it. He reminded himself that he had gotten hard while fighting Sanji in the past, not once but several times, which never made their relationship any weirder; what was some awkward tension compared to that? Given that Sanji hadn't known about that, which made things much easier for the swordsman, but he had managed and he would do so in the future. Which would be less of a challenge if Sanji didn't add to his personal conflicted reactions by staring at him the same way Zoro was sure he was trying not to stare at Sanji. If he didn't know the tension was mutual it would have definitely made a difference. But it was, so he'd have to deal with it. They had gone through worse and this had been the best they had been with each other for a while, so Zoro told himself not to put too much thought into it and instead convinced himself that it was going quite well, that they were indeed improving and that whatever still lingered in between them which they didn't dare to name was just a phase.

Oh, exactly, good word! Just a phase. Nothing else.

With new found determination and knowing that he had been in the bathroom for far longer than needed to brush his teeth, which he hadn't done, Zoro straightened up, feeling much more relaxed, and made his way back to the kitchen, where he found an amazing energizing breakfast waiting for him to engulf.

By the time he came back, Sanji was busy cooking the others' breakfast while eating his own and his stance was relaxed, no trace of the tension that had been there to start with left. Good. They threw a few puns at each other, Zoro didn't comment on how delicious Sanji's food was, and Sanji kept doing magic with the ingredients he chose to mix, 90% of his attention dedicated to turning them into amazing meals. 10% of it on Zoro.

Just like any other morning.

* * *

The stadium was certainly impressive. Sanji looked at the construction in awe, marveling at how big and detailed it was. He could only imagine how it would feel to get a chance to fight in there, surrounded by a monstrous crowd cheering for him in a massive roar. He was already smiling.

"Not bad, uh?"

Zoro's face looked much less excited as he simply nodded, but Sanji could tell that the adrenaline was already kicking in, the swordsman's hand slightly pressing against his swords to soothe them.

Sanji took it upon himself to find the registration place where Nami had said they should go to, Zoro following him closely while letting his gaze travel through the building, which was filled with strong-looking men and women sending threatening glares at the rest of potential competitors as they walked by. When Sanji found it, he rushed to the queue, which kept growing longer, until he got to the desk, where a man and a woman checked names and gave contestants some instructions.

"Name?" the woman asked.

"Blackleg Sanji and Roronoa Zoro. We should already be registered."

He saw as the receptionists eyes widened in surprise at hearing their names but went back to normal as professionalism came back to them, checking their lists in search of their names. When they found Sanji's they ticked it but they stopped their actions as they looked at the chef with a questioning frown.

"Is there a problem?"

"You have to be present for us to count you both in."

"Well, we are…" Sanji slowly trailed off as a sense of dread invaded him, the confused stare of the woman forcing him to turn around only to find that Zoro was nowhere to be seen. Sanji restrained a whine and the urge to kill something in favour of facing the receptionists with a reassuring smile. "I shall be back in a minute."

Then he stomped away with the mental promise to kick Zoro's ass to the moon and back. How the fuck had he gotten lost if he had been following him?! In a fucking straight line. Last time he checked he was in the queue _behind_ him!

It took him a good ten minutes to spot a very confused-looking algae wandering around in the crowd and, by the time he did, Sanji was fuming.

"Oi, fuckhead!"

Zoro lifted his gaze to meet Sanji's as the blonde walked his way, a scowl quickly forming.

"What the fuck was that?" he demanded as soon as the cook stopped right in front of him.

"_How_ the fuck did you even get lost this time?" Sanji shot back. "Now we have to queue all over again!"

"You disappeared!" Zoro defended himself.

"_I_ disappeared?! Really?!" Sanji yelled in exasperation, throwing his arms in the air. "Just when I thought you couldn't get any worse…"

"Oi! I didn't get lost!" Zoro yelled back, grabbing a piece of Sanji's suit to yank him against him as he usually did when they argued. Their faces came to be millimeters away from each other's, the tips of their noses touching. That wasn't the closest they had been when arguing, but the sudden proximity struck them like lightning and Zoro let go of Sanji as soon as he realized, both taking a few quick and wary steps back, their bodies tense and ready to jump.

"You are an idiot," Sanji snapped, pulling himself together faster than Zoro. Then he decided to give no fucks anymore and grabbed Zoro's wrist, to which Zoro let out an unmanly yelp of surprise since he hadn't seen that one coming.

"_The fuck_ are you doing?!" he barked.

And it was a good question indeed. They were both clever enough to know that, the more physical contact they avoided, the better.

"Making sure you don't get your ass lost again," Sanji responded as nonchalantly as he could. And he really meant it. As much as Zoro's wrist was burning under his touch, which he was very self-conscious of, he wasn't about to risk having Zoro getting lost again and having to queue yet _again_. "If you didn't behave like a three-year-old kid I wouldn't have to treat you like one," he growled, pointedly looking ahead and yanking at Zoro for him to follow, trying to ignore the uncomfortableness the contact raised.

"For fuck's sake, this looks gay as fuck!" Zoro blurted out in utter embarrassment as soon as he saw people looking at them with questioning raised eyebrows. As soon as he said it, though, he cursed at himself and wondered why on Earth he had such a big mouth. That was hardly the smartest comment he could have made. He had never had a problem with this kind of things and he still didn't but the thought that it _did_ look gay _with_ Sanji had gotten him like a punch in the face. Idiotic comment anyway.

Sanji spun around and Zoro swore that if glares could kill, the blonde's would have already pulverized him. A fate he would have gladly accepted at that moment. He expected Sanji to just let go as if Zoro's wrist had been on fire but, instead of that, he clenched his jaw and resumed pulling him back to the queue as if he hadn't heard anything.

"You really _are_ a fucking idiot," he repeated, cursing everyone and everything that came to mind in the privacy of his head. Well, except for women obviously. Never would he curse at a woman.

As soon as he saw the queue and noticed how it was about three times longer than it had been when they first arrived there, which meant they'd have to stand there for more than half an hour, Sanji turned around and kicked Zoro in the knee. It was so unexpected that Zoro couldn't help but crouch down in pain.

"The fuck was that for!" he yelled as soon as he regained his composure.

Sanji ignored his raging complaint and focused on calming himself down, his fingers digging in Zoro's skin in what Zoro would never admit was a really painful vice grip. The swordsman struggled for a bit, trying to free himself, but he didn't try hard enough and they both knew it. In the end he settled for staying right behind Sanji, letting him hold him in place much to his utter embarrassment and uncomfortableness. As they advanced in the queue the grip kept relaxing, and by the end of it, it was a mere loose hold around it, which Zoro could have easily sneaked out of, but then again, he didn't. He told himself that for things to stop being awkward they should get used to them. They couldn't have physical contact bothering them as much as it did, not when there had been a time (namely ever since they had met) when they wouldn't acknowledge the meaning of personal space when it came to interacting with each other. So he took it as training. It was just Sanji grabbing his wrist, nothing wrong with it asides from some of the looks they were getting. And except for the unsettling feeling in his stomach every time he focused on Sanji's touch, but that was exactly what he was trying to fight away, so he might as well just deal with it.

Sanji had opted for letting his mind go blank so that his brain wouldn't give him shit. He was just trying to keep Zoro in place so that he wouldn't get lost (truthfully), there was nothing wrong with that and he wouldn't let himself act as if there was. End of.

By the time they got back to reception, they received a knowing look from the man and woman working there as they ticked their team as present and gave them some instructions. Their first match would be at 1. They should go for a medical check up at the other side of the building before 12 o'clock, then they would be guided to the waiting room where they'd be able to watch the other matches through monitors as they waited for their own to start. If they won they'd classify for the second round, and so on until they got to the final match, if they managed to get there. Which they knew they would. The competition would probably end late in the evening, so they'd have a long day ahead of them with long hours of waiting in between matches. Which they would have dreaded a bit less hadn't they known that it meant that they'd have to endure a lot of hours together as they didn't know anyone else there and their crew would be in the grandstand.

They tried to shrug the thought off their heads and resigned to it. They were Nami's orders; they always resigned when it came to those, nothing new in that.

Sanji was taking a look at a map they had given them in order to find the medical center when he felt Zoro tensing by his side. Sanji lifted his head, his expression clearly annoyed as he was already having a bit of an overdose of Zoro's company for the day.

"What," he inquired flatly.

Zoro didn't answer, his eye fixed somewhere away from where they were. Sanji frowned at him at the lack of response but quickly followed his gaze, only to tense as well.

"Oh, well," he let out, tension underlying the otherwise laid back and casual tone. "This is surprising indeed."

Aila and Allen where standing in the queue to the registration desk, animatedly chatting without a care in the world. That until they spotted the Strawhats' duo, Aila's eyes widening a bit at the sight, only to smile right after and gesturing for them to come over.

Sanji gave a questioning look at Zoro, who forced himself to shrug and walk their way, followed by a wary Sanji.

"What are you doing here?" Zoro asked without bothering to say hi.

Aila chuckled and her brother let out a smirk.

"Well, competing, of course," she answered with a matter-of-fact tone.

"Did you register as well?" Allen politely asked.

Sanji couldn't help but to find disturbing how alike the twins looked, almost as if they had copied and pasted the other only to change the essential details to make one look like a man and the other like a woman.

"Yes, we have," Zoro answered when he realized that Sanji wasn't going to engage in that conversation. Which was weird taking into account that the blonde would have normally become a puddle of compliments by now. Instead, he stood silent by his side, and Zoro couldn't help but feel how the cook slightly pressed his shoulder against Zoro's, a gesture he really didn't know how to interpret.

"Oh, that's a shame," Aila commented, looking as if she really meant what she said.

"Is it?" Zoro taunted, dragging the words, a small smirk painting his lips. He could sense a weird aura coming from the siblings. One that almost felt like a real threat.

"At least try to fight for the second place, okay?" Aila smirked back.

Zoro had now a full-on grin in his face. One that screamed challenge. The chills he felt when facing the twins told him they were indeed dangerous. The way Sanji pressed harder against his side told him he had sensed it as well.

"We'll see," he answered, his tone threatening and sharp. He didn't bother keeping the conversation going, he just turned around and left, mentally thanking Sanji when he nudged him towards the right direction as he didn't really know where he was going. They felt the siblings' stares following them until they disappeared in the crowd.

Only then did they both let out a sigh.

"Did you feel it?" Zoro asked without looking at Sanji. He still knew the other had nodded, though.

"Not as easy as we assumed it would be, I'm afraid," Sanji agreed.

And they both forgot about their issues for a while because, as for now, they knew they had something way more serious to take care of. Something that required all of their attention, else they would actually end up stuck in second place. Which Nami wouldn't like. And, well, they both appreciated their lives enough as to not feel inclined to piss Nami off.

Trouble was coming their way.

**TBC**

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**A/N: **Omg I am slowly remembering the meaning of 'free time' again! Still busy but not as much as I used to, which means I can write more and faster, yay! Plus I got a streak of inspiration and I am already working on the next chapter! This one was a bit shorter but it was just what I needed to start setting things into place for the next one. If Chapter 25 turns out as I am planning to (big 'if', we'll see how it goes), it shall be a pretty intense one (but then again, let's see how it turns out!), so please look forward to it!

Have a really nice week, and thank you for all the reviews and support, it really makes my day! Big hug to everyone! :)


	25. Chapter 25 - From Now On

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**Chapter 25**

**From Now On**

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"You are bandaged."

Sanji gave the doctor who was currently examining him a 'no shit' look. Some people had the bad habit of stating the obvious, a habit Sanji wasn't exactly fond of, especially when it came to commenting his health, which he mostly preferred to keep to himself.

The expression in the doctor's face was slightly concerned, though. Sanji was pretty sure the old man had seen all kind of nasty injuries at this point, especially working where he did, but the look in his eyes gave away that he still took his job seriously and cared about his patients' condition. The way he was carefully examining his torso made the old man remind Sanji of Chopper, just that he was about fifty years older and, well, human.

"I need to take a look at your injuries," the doctor informed him, already putting on his gloves.

"Go ahead," Sanji shrugged. Not that his consent mattered, though, he was pretty sure the man was going to do so anyway.

Sanji let him unbandage the wounds Zoro had helped him take care of that morning and watched as the doctor examined them, giving a slight hum at the bullet wound. When he saw the back one, though, the older man couldn't help but frown. Hard.

"You are lucky you are still walking," he merely commented.

The blonde looked at him and shrugged yet again. "So I've been told."

"I guess you won't listen if I recommend you not to fight today and give this injury a rest," he said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Your guess is correct," Sanji agreed.

"Your wounds look as if they have been treated, has a doctor already seen you?"

"Yes."

"Did he prescribe anything to you? Are you on any medication? By the looks of it you have been applying some kind of healing cream, but I can't quite pinpoint which one."

"Oh, it's handmade. Our doctor is always experimenting with disgusting stuff, but it always works," Sanji conceded as he fished the cream jar in his pants pockets and handed it to the other man. "I think I should probably reapply it already."

The doctor opened the jar and examined its contents with a curious frown. "When did you last apply it?"

"This morning, it's almost been four hours."

Sanji heard the other man chuckle. He had probably read the instructions plastered to the jar, death threat included. "Yes, looks like it's time to apply it again. We don't want your doctor inflicting more wounds to you."

The chef smirked at the doctor's amused expression and let him work on him, applying a thick layer of cream where needed. The sudden image of Zoro applying it for him that morning came to mind in quite a disturbing way, but Sanji batted the thought away as soon as it came.

Speaking of which, when he let his gaze wander around the room, he met a certain algae's stare directed at him. Zoro jerked up when Sanji caught him looking, and quickly diverted his attention somewhere else, letting his own doctor examine him and leaving the blonde blinking in confusion, a small squishy feeling in his stomach. Which he refused to acknowledge.

When he was all bandaged, he waited until the doctor wrote everything down in an inspection document and vaguely answered when asked how he had gotten those wounds. No need for a genius to figure the answer out, but he guessed it was a bureaucracy matter.

Zoro was already waiting for him with his arms crossed in front of his chest, his back against a wall, when Sanji finished his inspection and the doctor announced he was good to go.

"I guess you'll fight," he emotionlessly observed.

Sanji raised an eyebrow. "Of course I'll fight, this was only checkup."

"I don't know, the possibility that a pansy like you would back down because of that little scratch wasn't that low."

"Fuck you very much."

Zoro smirked, as he was expected to do in response, but Sanji couldn't help but notice through the corner of his eye how the swordsman shifted in what could've been an uncomfortable manner as he walked past him. The thought hit him that he may not have chosen the wisest words to send the moss head to hell, he sure as hell hadn't thought it through, but fuck that, he had never needed to filter anything with Zoro, and they'd have to learn their way back to not watching their words in front of each other, else their exchanges would stay awkward forever, and they couldn't have that.

He made it a goal to focus his attention on finding the waiting room, but his efforts turned out to be futile as a really nice woman offered to help them, leaving Sanji with nothing to distract himself with, except for, maybe, to hit on her a bit. Zoro threw a few insults his way as soon as he started flattering the blushing brunette, but Sanji feigned he couldn't hear them, much to the swordsman's annoyance. And Zoro swore he wasn't getting any more pissed off than usual, it was just Sanji's behavior getting on his nerves as it usually did, nothing more. He definitely refused to acknowledge that his scowl was deeper and the urge to kick the cook stronger.

"Thank you very much, my flower, I very much appreciate your help, maybe I could repay you by inviting you to have some nice dinner I would especially prepare for you tonight after the competition?" Sanji thanked and simultaneously offered as their guide got them where they needed to be and was about to leave.

The girl, who was quite young, blushed and was about to answer when Zoro's Sanji-tolerance reached its limit.

"Excuse this idiot, he was just leaving," he interrupted with a deadpan tone as he grabbed the collar of Sanji's shirt and dragged him away, effectively making the young girl go away and earning him a kick in the gut as soon as Sanji processed what was going on and yelled at him in outrage.

"Quit cockblocking me!" he barked to a crouched Zoro, who was trying his best not to let anyone see how he was nursing his abdomen where he had been kicked.

Zoro scoffed. "And you call yourself a romantic."

"Jealous much?" Sanji taunted, the will to annoy Zoro back getting the best out of him. He knew he shouldn't be playing with that at such delicate moment in their relationship, not when the cause of their issues had been what it had been, but he just couldn't put an enough high price to Zoro's indignant expression just right before he gathered himself together and shot back.

"You wish," the swordsman muttered.

Sanji was already ignoring him in favour of scanning the room. It was big and high, and rows and rows of seats filled it from side to side. The room was starting to get full with contestants, half of them looking truthfully scary, at least to the general public. Sanji could tell that only a few of them could present a challenge. Since he knew that the official competition would start in a bit more than half an hour and they still had a while to go for their own match, Sanji made his way through the rows of seats until he found two empty spots where they could watch the matches through the monitors comfortably. Zoro quickly sat by his side. Sanji was genuinely surprised that the marimo hadn't got lost again.

Sanji was telling himself to relax, trying not to get too stressed over the dead silence between Zoro and him, telling himself that they wouldn't have exchanged a word even in the peak of their relationship, basically because they didn't have anything to say to each other. He was a bit pissed at both of them that it felt this awkward when it used to be perfectly normal. Plus, it was one of the things he enjoyed the most about being with Zoro, maybe the only one. No, not really, it wasn't the only one, but he had a pride to defend. He used to feel rejuvenated by how he could sit by Zoro's side and just be silent, merely acknowledging each other's presence but still making the minutes they shared much more enjoyable than if he had been alone. So it pissed him off that they had kind of lost that.

To be fair, though, it wasn't half as awkward as it had been and they were progressing quite well, the feeling turning into a mere bugging one, one he could tolerate and even forget about if he paid attention to something else. So even if he had that underlying pissed off feeling, he was quite satisfied, and he started to relax soon enough when he realized that Zoro wasn't going to open his big mouth either.

Anyway, half of his attention was set on the rest of the contestants. Half of them had recognized them and Sanji was sure that, hadn't they signed a contract that bound them to follow certain rules at the registration desk (which included no fighting outside the arena), they would've already jumped at them in an attempt to play hero and get their heads in advance. Sanji dismissed the glares but kept his guard up, just in case. Only an idiot would try to assault them right there and then, but Sanji knew first hand that there were indeed a lot of idiots freely trotting around the world, the moss by his side being the king of all of them.

"I think you have a pill to take," he suddenly heard Zoro say, and he almost jumped in place at the surprise, not expecting any kind of interaction with him until they were about to fight. He blinked his way away from his musings and looked at Zoro in confusion, slowly processing what the swordsman had just told him and quickly cursing when it registered.

He rummaged in his pockets until he found a jar with the pills Chopper had given him and took one. Only then did he realize that the small dull ache in his lower back had come back, if ever so slightly, and he mentally acknowledged the power of Chopper's medicines. Between the cream and the pills he had been able to keep the pain and strain in place, almost not feeling it. Not that he minded the pain, he'd endured _much_ worse, but he knew that particular tiny wound could cause him problems later on when fighting, so he'd rather be careful and follow Chopper's orders. He swallowed the pill without water to help himself with and then nodded to himself, but it was more of a gesture for Zoro to understand that he got this. Zoro watched him as he swallowed the pill with an unimpressed look and took the nodding as what it was, shifting back into a comfortable position without a word as soon as he saw Sanji do the same.

They went back into a more or less comfortable and diminishingly awkward silence.

That until Sanji felt Zoro tense a bit next to him. He conducted his stare from the monitors where a presenter was talking bullshit and pumping up the audience to where Zoro was looking at. Namely, Aila and Allen walking into the room. Sanji noticed that it wasn't only Zoro who tensed, but the whole room. The buzz that had been filling the place died down as soon as they walked in, and everyone turned to look at them in silence, threatening and even scared glares directed at the siblings. Sanji raised an eyebrow, Zoro slightly clenched his jaw.

When the contestants started talking again in small groups, albeit with hushed tones now, Sanji tore his gaze from the twins (who had taken two seconds to acknowledge Zoro's and Sanji's presence with a smile before finding their own spot in the room, chatting animatedly as if they hadn't just been murdered in one hundred different ways by hundreds of brains at the same time) to Zoro, who also titled his head to face him.

"They fear them," he commented quite casually.

"Looks like they are known here," Zoro agreed.

"Not a good sign," Sanji sighed, even as he started feeling adrenaline kicking in at the expectation of what the twins had to offer.

"Not a problem either," Zoro replied.

Sanji smirked. "Definitely not a problem."

* * *

Zoro felt himself fume when his and Sanji's team was called for their first fight and first thing he heard after he stood up was Aila's voice wishing them good luck far too loud from the other side of the room. Both him and Sanji turned to face the twins, Sanji with a blank expression, Zoro with a clearly pissed off one. Because now everyone was looking at them, trying to figure them out, while Aila and Allen smiled innocently from a corner as if they just hadn't turned them into number one targets for everyone in that room. Whoever the siblings were, they were feared and respected, and it didn't escape Zoro that the fact that they were so openly interacting with them as if they were talking to an equal in front of the rest of the contestants meant that they acknowledged Zoro and Sanji as a challenge. Which made them just that for everybody there. Zoro glared at Aila in what could be interpreted as a last warning, to which Aila simply grinned wider and waved at them as she sent them a kiss, Allen chuckling by her side.

And both him and Sanji swore they had never felt like a prey as much as they did now.

* * *

For what they had seen in the first few matches they had watched through the monitors for the past hour, the majority of the contestants weren't impressive at all. They had spotted two teams who weren't half bad and had obviously won, but that's about it. The rest were peasants who didn't know what they had signed up for, and if some teams had won it was only because the one they were fighting was even lamer than them.

They knew better, though. This was only the beginning. The first rounds were made to filter all the weaklings and slowly give place to more interesting ones until they found teams suitable enough to make the matches epic. That's how a tournament worked.

Sanji shifted on his feet as staff worked around them, getting everything ready to let them out. Which Sanji was itching to do and, judging by Zoro's stone mode being activated, the swordsman was just as eager as him to kick ass. To be honest, they both needed it. It was a fantastic way to get rid of the tension that had been accumulated until then. The talk the night before had definitely helped, but their issues were still there and, well, the best way those two knew how to express themselves and vent their pent-up tension was through fighting and letting everything out without restraints.

At some point they were conducted to a circular platform and were instructed to stand there. Zoro heard their names being announced and, just as the booming voice of the presenter started resonating in the underground floor they were in, the platform started to ascend, natural light greeting them and almost blinding them after being in the penumbra for quite a while.

The stadium was just as Sanji had imagined. It was huge, the arena was titanic and the stands and terraces extended for countless rows and rows, high enough for them not to be able to distinguish anyone, that's how far they were. Which didn't mean the audience couldn't see the contestants fighting, as four immense panels raised themselves along the stadium so that everyone could see close-up images of the battles going on.

And, oh, _the roar_. The roar sent chills down Sanji's spine, who was already tapping the tip of his dress shoe on the floor, a wave of adrenaline hitting him, an unconscious smirk leaving his lips.

They were quite known. As soon as their names had been announced there had been loud gasps and shocked faces (as far as they could see) all along the stands, people breaking into a deafening roar that Sanji swore made his bones tremble. But, above the thousands of voices, there was a clearly distinguishable and impossibly loud one.

"Zoro, Sanji! Make me proud! Don't mess up! Kick everyone's asses! We'll have a meat feast when you are finished!"

Sanji had to physically roll his eyes in order to properly express the utter embarrassment their captain was putting them through as he kept on jumping like crazy in his spot, almost jumping across the rows of seats in front of him to join them in the arena, barely held back by a very stressed-looking Nami. The idiot kept blurting nonsense everyone could hear even above the general roar, throwing his fists in the air and leading his throat through the path of destruction in what Luffy probably thought was encouraging and motivating them.

"He is an idiot."

Sanji turned to Zoro, who was scowling like mad, embarrassment clear in his features. Sanji couldn't help but agree. Their captain was an embarrassing bastard.

"He is like the proud lame dad going to see his son at his first baseball game. Just that he has the mental age of a two-year-old kid, and he also wants to play," the blonde commented, to which Zoro barked a laugh.

"That's accurate."

And with that, the team they were going to fight was introduced and brought up to the arena, bringing the duo's attention back to where it should be.

They were two men, one was bulky and probably doubled Zoro in size, the other was about their height, bald and covered with scars all over his face and head. It wasn't their appearance that told them that they weren't an easy prey, but their eyes. The shortest one's were cunning and calculative, something Sanji noticed straight away.

"I am in charge of baldie there," he announced, eyeing his prey.

"Why am I supposed to agree with that?"

"Because he is the brain of his team, and I am the brain of ours," Sanji easily responded, smirk back in place. "Go use your muscles against muscle head over there, shouldn't be too difficult and we'll spare some of your brain cells from suffering from over-exploitation."

"Oi!" Zoro immediately protested.

But the siren signaling the start of their battle had just rung and Zoro was left with no time to elaborate his outrage as he already had Muscle Head running his way with a huge mace in his hands, while Sanji had already started sprinting towards the shorter one, using his speed to surprise him.

Which he did. But Baldie was fast as well, and he dodged at the very last moment, getting two guns out of his sides and directly shooting at him. Sanji spun around, twisting his whole body as he usually did to avoid the hit, but a streak of pain shot through him the moment his spine followed his own movement, his lower back practically screaming at him to slow the fuck down. And he swore he lost the vision for half a second, seeing black as his feet reached the ground with half the grace he used to have, slightly stumbling as he jumped back to put some distance in between them. But his enemy was already closing the distance, and just as Sanji's eyes decided to respond to his commands, the pain in his back still highly present after the strain made two seconds ago, he saw his scarred face in front of him. Sanji reacted faster than lightning, leaning his weight on his left leg and kicking upwards with the right one, clearly surprising the other as he hadn't been expecting the vertical angle of the attack. Which didn't keep him from shooting. Sanji rolled to the side, the kick only managing to land half the impact he had planned in favour of preventing a bullet from boring a whole in his abdomen. Fair enough.

Baldie fell to the ground, two teeth broken and blood coming out of his mouth, but it didn't take him more than three seconds to stand up, shake his head to dissipate the effect the kick had caused to his now clouded brain, and charge again. About the same time Sanji took to stand up, curse out loud, clench his jaw and inhale through his nose to make the pain in his back go away, which it was starting to do. Just as he blocked the upcoming attack with his leg, sky walking right afterwards to avoid two shots and kicking down his enemy's face, who roughly avoided the hit, Sanji reached the conclusion that fancy moves were out of the picture, especially the ones that involved twisting his back in excess, else his own fighting techniques would backfire.

_Fucking wound_. It was fine as long as he didn't abuse it, though. So he would stick to the basics. Those would have to do. That's what he thought as he let himself fall to his hands and spin around with his legs wide open in a whirlwind that knocked his rival out and away from him, all the while ignoring how his back complained. This one hadn't been that bad, it had been one of his basics, even if it hurt, but it was just a little. Yes, he could do with that. He'd _have_ to do with that.

* * *

Zoro watched as Sanji stumbled right after twisting his own body in an impossible angle to avoid a hit, his landing imprecise and wobbly. He cursed himself when he realized his attention had switched to the blonde for far too long, leaving him unprotected against the following attack coming his way. He gasped and barely avoided the mace crushing his head to a pulp, quickly regaining his fighting stance and lunging against Muscle Head, who blocked the crossing slash Zoro had just delivered with the surface of his own weapon, which ended up merely scratched. Zoro vaguely wondered what material that mace was made of as to stand one of Zoro's attacks, but the thought didn't last more than that as his attention inevitably shifted back to Sanji, who now looked like he was faring pretty well.

Good.

He didn't want to be concerned by the blonde, and it pissed him off that he had been genuinely worried about him when he had seen his rather poor performance of what would have normally been one of his casual moves. His back was giving him shit and Zoro knew it. But, if there was something good he could say about Sanji, it was that he was an extremely good fighter and, what's more important, a clever one. It didn't take him long to realize that the blonde had completely changed his fighting scheme, laying it low while keeping it just as effective and precise, just that resorting to old known 'easy' movements instead of his new favourite fancy ones in order to both strain his back less and attack in a way that would leave his lower back less unprotected.

Zoro grunted when the mace landed on him, but he had already crossed both of his swords right in front of his face, stopping the attack in time and using their flat side to resist the monstrous strength of his opponent and finally pushing him back and away from him. But Muscle Head wasn't as dumb as Sanji had concluded he was, because he had some clever moves going on and the way he shifted the angle to land another hit definitely meant trouble for Zoro, who had to duck, roll through the ground and block yet again, pushing the mace back again and crouching the moment his enemy tried to land another hit, effectively dodging at the same time he conducted the swords against his opponent's side. Muscle Head saw it coming and made it to dodge, just that he was a bit too slow and the blade managed to pierce his flesh, even if just a little.

The huge man jumped backwards, earning some distance and breathing hard at the sudden wave of pain, but he didn't flinch one bit. Not that he had time; Zoro was already on him. This time, though, his plan didn't go as well. As soon as he launched against the other, the bigger man swung his mace and used the momentum to send Zoro flying backwards and against a wall of the stadium, effectively cracking a hole on it and keeping Zoro out of the battle for a good five seconds as he tried to sit back up and rubbed at his head, the confusion after such a big hit kicking in.

He took too long. As soon as he opened his eyes, the giant was already on him, mace held up in the air and ready to fall in a massive hit. Only then did Zoro realize that his swords had fallen from his hands somewhere because of the impact, and by then he could only brace himself, knowing that, in the position he was in, dodging would end up worse for him than if he just took the hit. As massive as he knew it was going to be.

He heard something crack, but it wasn't his skull. As he blinked his eyes open he saw Sanji in between him and muscle head, his burning right leg still straight in the air as he fell back to the ground, the mace destroyed after he had intercepted the hit.

Sanji felt a strong shiver run down his spine as he took the impact with the sole of his shoe, which packed enough strength and resistance as to pulverize the mace, but the hit still seemed to run all along his bones the moment he made contact with the hard surface, his lower back quick to scream at him in a plead for a break. Sanji merely grunted as his left leg held the weight of his body straight as soon as it reached the floor. He managed not to stumble and instead landed as he usually would but, just as he retreated his right leg, a hiss of pain escaped him, eyes scrunched tight.

He only allowed himself one second, though.

Behind him, Zoro had taken a hold of his swords again and Sanji could hear them sing right at his back, to which he instinctively crouched, giving space for Zoro to use his shoulders as leverage to step on them, gain height and momentum and land a hit against their now common enemy, finishing him right at that instant.

Sanji's hand went to the ground to help him support himself as soon as Zoro stepped on his upper back, right under the nape of his neck, but he didn't emit a sound, not even as a wave of pain kicked in and seemed to concentrate in that particular spot in his lower back. He had honestly not expected it to be this bad. It's not that he couldn't move, but the pain was ten times more intense than expected when he put strain on it. If he was still it was fine, but right now… right know he just wanted to kill things, it fucking hurt like a bitch.

He was pulled out of his musings as everything kicked back into motion. He wasn't sure if he had heard the shot first or if he had felt Zoro's hand grabbing his elbow and pulling him away before that.

Anyway, the result was him landing on his back and Zoro quickly taking the lead in order to face the now approaching Baldie, who was now shooting at them without giving them a break. Had to be grateful that the damn swordsman knew how to cut bullets in half, much to their enemy's frustration.

Sanji groaned and refused to let Zoro finish him. Sanji had decided to be in charge of him and he would. He had only left his own fight in favour of helping the idiot of an algae he had for a nakama when he saw him about to be smashed by a giant mace in a giant's hands. No way in hell was he going to let Zoro take what was his just because he had taken the time, out of the kindness of his heart, to help him, giving him the advantage to steal Sanji's opponent and take the merits.

"Move your ass," he ordered in a growl as he stood up behind the greenhead.

And Zoro somehow understood what Sanji wanted, because right after cutting three more bullets, he bent his body forwards for Sanji to step on his back just as he had stepped on Sanji's. Which Sanji did, only that he flew afterwards.

Baldie was caught by surprise and quickly changed the angle, moving from targeting Zoro to targeting Sanji, who was flying his way. He shot. Once. Twice. Three times. Four times. But Sanji did a beautiful arch followed by a few spins, dodging everything that was coming his way, ignoring the pain in his back, only to end up landing an axe kick in the other's face, finally knocking him out for good.

Sanji landed and lost balance, but covered it with a flourish and a forced smile that tried to mask the new pain attack his back was punishing him with for not sticking to 'simple'.

His ears barely registered the commentator yelling that their team was the winner of that round, profusely praising their fighting techniques and whatnot, the crowd quickly going back to roaring, which they had done all along until their last enemy had been knocked out, just that this time it was louder. As in, _much louder_. And Luffy was screaming bullshit at them, probably announcing how proud he was, but Sanji didn't bother to listen. One: he didn't need to be embarrassed. Two: he needed to sit down and get rid of the strain present in his back right about now.

He was surprised when he felt Zoro's presence by his side in the blink of an eye as soon as the battle was called to an official end, closer than normal. He wasn't really touching or grabbing him, but his right shoulder was slightly behind Sanji's left one, in a way that would've allowed Sanji to lean on him without anyone noticing if he really needed it, or simply support Sanji's weight if he lost balance without the need to openly grab him. Sanji didn't use it, though. He didn't know if Zoro knew what he was doing or if he was doing it out of instinct, but he was Blackleg Fucking Sanji and he could sure as hell manage a scratch in the back on his own.

"Done," he heard Zoro mutter dangerously near his ear.

Sanji shivered involuntarily and quickly nodded, urgently diverting his attention to a member of the staff who was indicating them how to get out of there for the next battle to start. The paramedics were already taking the defeated out of there. To be honest, they had been a bit of a challenge.

Zoro watched as Sanji started walking away from him, his pose slightly stiff, his pace fast. He simply followed, watching his back as he walked behind him. He wasn't going to thank Sanji for saving his ass back when he had been about to be crushed by a mace and he just knew that Sanji wasn't going to thank him for getting his sorry ass out of the way right afterwards, when they had been targeted by a rainstorm of bullets that would have turned Sanji into a colander hadn't Zoro pulled him behind him. Though, to be fair, Sanji wouldn't have faced a potential colander fate hadn't he gotten distracted by helping Zoro out. Oh, well. As far as he was concerned, they were even. They never really thanked the other when they saved each other's asses, it was just what they did.

Zoro felt grateful when he received a bottle of water for him to hydrate himself, which he suddenly felt like he really needed after the slight effort they had had to make. Their enemies hadn't been weak at all, which left Zoro smirking as he gulped the water down and used a clean towel to get rid of the sweat. He slyly watched through the corner of his eye as Sanji did the same, and he couldn't help but notice how the blonde laid his weight against the nearest wall, his expression calm and composed, almost nonchalant. Zoro tried not to frown. Sanji did look better now. He just hoped he'd stay like this for what was left of the tournament.

The frown he had been trying to contain, though, reappeared a few seconds later, when Sanji discretely fished the jar of painkillers Chopper had given him out of his pocket only to take one and quickly swallow it. Only then, when he was looking at Sanji's lips as they closed around the bottle of water to help himself swallow the pill, did Zoro realize how Sanji's breath was more ragged than normal, how his stance was actually tense and his jaw clenched imperceptibly but hard enough to probably hurt.

Sanji didn't have to take the medicine yet, last thing Zoro knew, he had to take it every two hours. Zoro's frown grew deeper. Sanji was obviously not complaining, and he wouldn't, but he was struggling more than Zoro had thought he would to start with. Else he wouldn't be acknowledging to himself the need to take the pills by actually taking one earlier than he should.

Zoro tried his best not to sigh in frustration, and he swore to himself that he was not worried about the blonde. He just really hoped he'd resist the whole tournament, but he knew he'd do that. Most importantly, he hoped that Sanji would accept his own limits today and wouldn't do anything stupid.

The greenhead then proceeded to frown at himself. Why did he care anyway? As long as Sanji managed to hold his ground as he always did (to be honest, he had fought in _much_ worse conditions) and didn't get in his way, everything should be fine. It's not like he needed to worry about him, he never really did, right.

It's just that Zoro didn't exactly feel like playing babysitter today, that's it.

* * *

"Oh my God, they were actually amazing!"

"I couldn't see them attacking, they finished them so fast!"

"They are dangerous indeed."

"I wasn't expecting to see them fighting here at all. This was a surprise."

"What's more of a surprise is the fact that they can fight like this. If Zoro and Sanji have to face them, they won't have it easy."

Nami nodded at the comments her crew was throwing in utter surprise as Aila and Allen were announced the victors of that round. Which had lasted for about three minutes, if so. The rival team hadn't had time to wrap their head around the fact that they were being defeated until they were already knocked out cold. And the twins hadn't even broken a sweat.

They had fought right after Sanji and Zoro had been led out of the arena. The staff was fast to make everything run smoothly: there were no pauses in between matches, as soon as one was over the next one started, not giving them more than two or three minutes to celebrate the last victory. Luffy had been cheering for their team like the mad man he was, embarrassing them all, being louder than the whole stadium together and multiplied for ten, but he had shut up as soon as he had seen the twins appear, a confused expression bathing his features, much as everyone else's in the Strawhats crew. That had been unexpected. But apparently it had only been so for them. As soon as their names were announced, the crowd broke into a deafening roar that far surpassed the one anyone else had received even when impressively winning. The public went nuts. Everyone was standing, everyone was clapping like crazy, everyone was disregarding their vocal cords' health in favour of screaming their lungs out in what was the craziest cheering Nami had ever heard. She had known right there and then that the twins were the indisputable champions of Terevera, at the very least. They were the only ones to receive that reaction and people obviously knew them. Which meant they had fought there before, by the looks of it, repeated times already. And if the excitement they caused was anything to go by, they had most likely not lost a battle in a long, long time.

She could understand why. She could tell they hadn't displayed all they had yet, they hadn't needed it, but she had caught a glimpse of what they could do. And where Sanji and Zoro had struggled, they hadn't even blinked. She wondered if their own team had had the chance to watch the match, they very much needed it if they wanted to know what to expect. They couldn't step into a fight against the siblings unwarned. God knows their pride was capable of blinding them enough as to dismiss the twins as a major threat, and if that happened Nami knew they'd have serious trouble. Because the twins were major trouble. She knew it as soon as they walked into the arena.

And she could only hope Zoro and Sanji would realize.

* * *

They heard the crazy cheering coming from the monitors as soon as they stepped back into the waiting room once they had been quickly checked by doctors in case there was any major injury to take care of, but they had quickly been dismissed. Sanji frowned. The roaring coming out of the speakers was deafening even if it was being filtered by technology, which strongly contrasted with the dead silence in the room as all the contestants watched the screen with expressions Sanji didn't like one bit. He watched as two teams were called for their battle to start, and he vaguely followed their figures as they left the room, nervous fidgeting getting the best out of them. But his attention quickly went back to what the rest was doing. The roaring kept going, and increasing. The silence in the room kept deepening by the second. He walked a bit to the end of the room and to the right so as to get a good look at the screen, Zoro following suit.

His eyes widened when he saw the shaky image of Aila and Allen with their fists raised in the air, screaming back to the crowd with victorious grins. At first he thought they were being introduced for their fight to start, so he sat down in order to watch, suddenly interested. He wanted to know what they could do. The thought that the crowd were already cheering for them like that didn't settle well, though. People knew them, it didn't take a genius to get that. And people liked them. Which meant they were, at the very least, strong.

His surprise only skyrocketed when he realized that they weren't being introduced, but the presenter was instead announcing their victory to the maddening public.

"What?" he let out, his eyes wide open.

Zoro's scowl by his side hadn't been as deep in a while. He also didn't get it.

It had barely been five or six minutes since they finished their fight, which meant there had been a space of two or three between their own fight and the siblings'. Which meant they had beaten their rivals to a pulp in an estimated period of three minutes, their bodies unscratched, their faces not showing the least bit sign of tiredness, barely sweating.

Zoro looked at Sanji. Sanji was already looking at him. And they didn't need to exchange words as their eyes bore into the other's. They better be careful. Those twins meant trouble. The problem was that they hadn't had a chance to evaluate exactly how much trouble yet, as they hadn't seen them in action. To be fair, it was possible that the other team had consisted of a pair of weaklings, but Zoro highly doubted it had anything to do with that.

Nah, the twins were a threat.

A very real one.

* * *

When Aila and Allen came back into the room with a smile, everyone glared at them, slightly retreating in their seats except for a few ones who were confident enough to be able to present a challenge to them if the chance came. Which they probably could. Sanji had been scanning the room, evaluating the contestants, and he could tell that there were about twenty to twenty-five teams that looked and actually gave the vibe of being seriously dangerous. Out of those, ten, including the twins, looked like they could make things difficult for them. As in, really difficult.

Which wasn't bad. Sanji itched for a good fight, one of those that actually presented a threat, one in which the real danger didn't come from slight slip ups he or Zoro could have, (such as the last one, even if the other team hadn't been a piece of cake either) but from what the other team had to offer. He would've been much more eager if it wasn't for his back, though. The early painkiller had helped it calm down, and now that he was sat and relaxing his muscles he could barely feel the pain, which had been reduced to a throbbing uncomfortable sensation where his back had been pierced the day before. But he couldn't get out of his mind the excruciating pain he had felt right when he had first twisted in what would've normally been easy and even mindless for him. It hadn't only been the flashing pain, but also the surprise as he hadn't been expecting it to hurt like a bitch, but only bug him during the battle. Such wasn't the case. He was very aware that he would have to deal with it during the following rounds, _having_ to mind his movements if he didn't want them to work against him, which he didn't exactly look forward to.

It was just his luck. Right when he was signed up for something fun and challenging, something he would've enjoyed ten times more had his back not given him shit, something that helped him get rid of tension and keep his mind off a certain mosshead even if he had to spend each hour with him, he went and got hurt with what had been one of the most dangerous injuries he'd had in a while. He'd had bigger and worse looking, and he'd had more serious ones, of course, but this one had been serious enough, close enough to end up with fatal consequences. His spine had been about to be separated through a hole in between two vertebrae; there was no way that would've ended well.

But he had honestly hoped that with Chopper's care it would heal fast. The reindeer hadn't been exaggerating, as he usually did, when he said that it would bother him and that he would have to be careful with it. It's not like unrepairable damage had been done, and if he just rested and did as Chopper had told him it would heal in a week or so, but the wound was still fresh and he was straining it, which, as Chopper had warned, could end up badly if he went all out and didn't mind the treatment given to his back.

He lost himself in his inner complaints about life and luck and shitty back pain as he watched the matches going on in the arena through the screens, extremely bored by some and deeply interested and ignited by others, the expectation to fight certain teams rising. So he didn't notice that Zoro was only half paying attention to the matches and instead watching him when the battle wasn't as interesting, a thoughtful look in his face.

Sanji looked better now. But Zoro knew his back would give them problems when they fought again, and the more he strained it the worse it'd be by the end of the day, when they reached the final round. Because they were sure as hell going to get there. Just that Zoro's utter confidence in that statement was wavering a bit as he thought of how Sanji had slightly tripped after that flip. Sanji didn't let himself trip unless it_ really_ hurt. So it _had_ hurt. It was not a matter of what the doctors recommended anymore; neither him or Sanji listened to that and they usually ignored the pain, so when their body acknowledged it, it meant it was quite bad, and they both knew that Sanji's movements were going to be limited by that. Which wasn't all that encouraging. Sanji's strength didn't only lay on the crazy strength his legs could pack, but also in how flexible and smooth and fast he was. And the injury was starting to limit that. Which meant they wouldn't be playing at their 100%. Not that it particularly bothered Zoro; as much as he didn't want to admit it, he knew they were a bomb as a team if they really focused into it instead of bickering, so even if they somehow lacked at some moments, they'd still be fine.

Or so he tried to tell himself as he watched Sanji fish for another pill and swallow it when he was supposed to, not letting the fact that he had taken one half an hour ago in advance prevent him from taking the due one.

* * *

Sanji blinked his eyes open when someone lightly kicked his ankle, waking him up from his slumber. The interesting matches had already taken place so he had just let himself fall asleep in his seat for a while. Out of the potential twenty-five teams only fifteen remained as some of them had been defeated by the others.

His gaze groggily lifted to meet Zoro's. The greenhead was standing in front of him, handing him a plate full of sandwiches and canapés and rice and whatnot. Sanji looked at it questioningly.

"They provide lunch for us, the self-service is set in one of the rooms near this one," Zoro explained as he plopped by his side with his own plate in his hands. "I started seeing people leaving so I thought I might as well follow them. We need to eat."

It was funny that it was Zoro telling Sanji to eat. The blonde was a bit surprised that the swordsman had been considerate enough as to bring him some food, not to say fazed. Kind/caring actions between them were out of the picture, and the only one who was allowed to feed the other without it being a break of their bickering-proud-rivals-to-death code was Sanji, and just because it was his job. He couldn't help but let his gaze linger on Zoro's profile for a while, but he ended up shrugging it off and eating. Zoro was right, they needed the food.

"What time is it?"

"Almost three."

"And they are only serving lunch now?"

Zoro pondered his answer as he shoved a sandwich in his mouth. "Nah, it's been going on for a while."

"What took you so long, then? Did you get lost?"

When Zoro stopped chewing and made it a goal to bore a glare in the screen in front of them, Sanji knew it was the case. He couldn't help but smirk, the old urge to annoy the other coming back home.

"Oh, you _so_ got lost."

"Didn't!" Zoro growled back.

"You did."

"No."

"You are a bad liar, marimo."

"And you are an asshole, shit cook."

"My pleasure."

* * *

Round two had started around forty-five minutes ago. The first one had been long as fuck as there was a large number of teams that had signed up, so the filtering process had taken a while. The second was sure to be half as long at least since only half of the teams remained. They still were quite a lot of them, but the number was slowly decreasing.

When their name was called they both stood up, itching to get back to the arena. They had come to hate that claustrophobic room where they were bound to spend even more boring hours in, so they were happy that they could get out of there and finally spend some time where they belonged: a fighting field.

Sanji felt the familiar wave of adrenaline kicking back in, wondering who they would fight. Zoro smirked when he saw it was one of the strong teams in that competition. They glared at them and Zoro and Sanji glared back, but they barely could contain their excitement. Which would have been higher hadn't one part of them been worrying about Sanji's back.

To be fair, it didn't hurt anymore, after relaxing and sitting down and taking his pills it had gotten so much better. But he knew that as soon as he started straining it again it would bother him and go back to limiting his mobility. He'd just have to be careful, he told himself.

He only remembered that he'd have to take another pill in about twenty minutes and apply the cream in about the same time when they were already being conducted through the basement and to the lifting platform. He cursed inside as it would have probably been a good idea to do it before the fight, even if a bit in advance, to avoid surprises. But he told himself it was fine. Not that he could do much now.

So when the platform started to bring them up to the arena as their names were announced and the crowd started cheering in a roar, his mind switched back to fighting mode and forgot about everything else. Focus and fight. Focus and fight. Win. That's it. That's the only thing he needed to do.

Zoro risked a glance at the blonde as they were bathed with the afternoon sun rays, checking on him. He looked fine. Well, he hoped he was. This team was going to be difficult to fight.

They had trouble listening to their opponents' names as the crowd was far too loud and Luffy was making it a goal to overpower the whole stadium's volume with his cheering chants. Embarrassing bastard.

"…they'll be fighting against… Smith and Dhor!"

Or so they understood. If the names weren't those, they were still close. Not that they cared too much.

Smith was tall and lean, with a constitution similar to Sanji's, just that he was sporting a much stronger scarred jaw that gave him a tough look. He had two swords sheathed in a cross shape at his back. Zoro smirked. Smith was his.

Dhor was shorter and bulkier, he almost looked like a Viking with his red beard and his braided red hair. He looked quite scary, to be honest. He had an axe Sanji had seen him use in his fight during the first round, and he knew for a fact that the redhead was skilled when it came to using it. And fast. He had assumed he'd have to take care of Dhor with the way Zoro had eyed Smith. He didn't have a problem with that; any of them was fine with him, so when the siren rang, he launched himself against Dhor in a sprint, kicking straight against Dhor's face, no preliminary game whatsoever. Dhor obviously dodged without much effort and Sanji smirked at him as he immediately landed on his hands and started kicking his way, making the redhead retreat until he found a spot to aim his axe at. He swung his weapon but Sanji was already out of the way, stepping back a bit and attacking back again, just to be blocked by the axe's flat side.

All along he ignored the throbbing pain that was starting to gather around that particular spot in his lower back. It wasn't that bad.

* * *

Zoro kept Wado in its sheath, much to Smith's annoyance. He could tell that the blonde wanted him to go all out, his pride being hurt when Zoro didn't comply with his desires, keeping his most precious swords out of the game. Swords clashed against swords and they both retreated only to run at each other again, a fast rainstorm of slashes cutting the air where their bodies had been half a second before, none of them landing a precise hit. Just because they both knew how to precisely avoid them.

Zoro grinned. That guy was good. Great, he did need some fun.

Taken by the thrill of the moment, he crouched and aimed low. Smith was surprised when he saw the blade come his ankle's way faster than lightning, but Zoro was even more surprised when Smith's sword intercepted the hit, his arm impossibly twisted to get the right angle while still keeping a strong grip, strong enough to actually stop Zoro's attack. Zoro was relentless, though, and he quickly used some footwork to round Smith while keeping the first sword in place, swinging the second a bit higher at his back. He was surprised again when Smith twisted his body and stopped the back hit with his second sword, Zoro getting stuck with his arms wide open around the blonde, who had enough strength to keep blocking the attack. When Smith grinned, Zoro knew he had made a mistake. Now his chest was unprotected. Smith threw his arms wide open, effectively pushing away Zoro's swords at both his sides and using the momentum to bring their own back to the center in a cross movement directly aimed at Zoro's chest.

Zoro heard Sanji yell something in the lines of "watch the fuck out", but he didn't quite register it as he bent his body back at the best of his ability, barely missing what would've been a pretty bad hit. He let gravity take him all the way down and, as soon as his back hit the floor, he forced himself to roll to the side just when Smith's swords made an indentation in the ground right where Zoro had landed. Zoro stood up and barely had time to dodge before going back to attacking. He noticed his breath was heavy and that everything in him was focused on his rival, basically because he _had_ to be focused on him if he didn't want the other to slash him open.

Zoro felt a feral grin break his face. That's exactly what he was looking for. A proper challenge.

* * *

Sanji cursed out loud when Dhor basically threw the axe flying his way, something he hadn't been quite expecting when his attention had been stolen by a stupid marimo being reckless and almost being cut deep in the chest. He wanted to go and kick him in the ass, but he couldn't exactly do that as he was now busy dodging the flying weapon which almost chopped his head. He felt the strain in his back as he leaned backwards to avoid the hit, his back bending in the process, but he merely hissed as he straightened back up. Damn shitty swordsman, distracting him like that.

He saw Dhor running his way in half a circle to get his axe back, which was currently stuck to a wall, and he ran his way to intercept him, landing a kick to his side and sending him flying away. Dhor was tough, though, so he wasted no time in standing up again right when Sanji fell from the sky to kick him in the head. He dodged and packed a punch that hit Sanji in the face and sent him to the ground in a rough thump. Sanji's hands found purchase on the ground as he quickly scrambled to his feet, avoiding another physical attack, his body already working on an upside-down whirlwind that took Dhor by surprise as soon as he stepped too close after his attack failed. Sanji managed a kick in the redhead's face, sending him flying again, but he was unlucky enough as to send him flying in his axe's direction, which earned Dhor a few seconds to lift himself up and get a hold of his weapon right before Sanji, who was now chasing him, could prevent it.

And Dhor just so happened to grab the axe when Sanji was barely a meter away from him, so when he turned around with a powerful swing, Sanji had the shortest time to gasp and throw himself to the floor as it was too late to stop his sprint. The movement sent a stabbing pain down his back, as if someone had whipped him, and a strangled groan left his mouth just as he gathered himself together and rolled to dodge another direct hit, quickly standing back up and using his sky walk to get out of the way of a third attack. He proceeded to let himself fall to deliver an axe kick, but was met with the axe's sharp side facing upwards. That would have ended up with his leg chopped hadn't he reacted in time and changed the angle to chafe the edge with the sole of his shoe instead of indenting himself in it. Which managed to set his leg on fire like a match.

He saw Dhor's surprised look as Sanji landed again and gave him no time to react before ducking under his still raised axe and kicking him in the gut. Dhor yelled at the sudden hit and burning sensation, but shockingly held his ground instead of being swept away. And Sanji wasn't expecting that, so he didn't retreat in time. One of Dhor's hands came to grab the nape of Sanji's neck and pulled him against him as he landed a strong hit with the tip of the axe's handle, which was the quickest movement he could perform rather than angling it to use the edge before Sanji escaped his hold. It just happened to hit Sanji's middle back.

A scream tore his throat as the pain blinded him, and he just felt himself fall to the ground, his breath far gone and his sight lost as the only thing he could sense was raging pain. For fuck's sake! It was probably instinct that uprooted his body from the ground right before Dhor used the edge of his axe to hit him, barely avoiding the attack aimed at his head at the last second. He stumbled back, trying to gather himself together as he made an effort to refocus his sight. The images in front of him were blurry, alternating white and black dots that didn't let him properly see what he had in front of him. He sensed movement, though, and he jumped back, the pain too deafening to even stop him from doing so, it was just this overwhelming. A whistle had substituted the roars and cheering in his ears, and he swore the crowd had gone mute, even when he could see their mouths wide open and clearly screaming. He thought he heard his name, but he couldn't pinpoint who had called him.

* * *

"Cook!" Zoro was ripped up from his feral fighting mode when he heard Sanji's tearing scream. Sanji rarely screamed like that. When he turned around, dismissing a blade coming his way with his own hit, he saw Sanji barely managing to dodge an attack, and he swore Sanji's mind was somewhere else as he seemed to act more out of instinct than out of reasoned action patterns. He was barely scrambling away as he tried to keep it together. And Zoro just _knew_ that the cook had been hit where he shouldn't have been. Weirdly enough, amongst the boiling noise the public emitted, he could hear Chopper's voice yelling something, the worry evident to anyone who heard it.

He spun around when Smith landed a hit against him, blocking, backing away and launching himself back at his opponent with a snarl, cursing everything around him, especially the blonde. He felt the urge to run towards him, but he had his own rival to take care of, one that wasn't letting him go anywhere if he didn't want a nasty injury in exchange of his efforts to help the blonde. And they couldn't have them both injured, else the final round would be out of the plan.

He growled as he dodged and attacked, and he felt almost relieved when he managed to land a cut on Smith's arm, which made the blonde hiss, but didn't stop him at all. Shit, now he couldn't properly focus, his gaze always ended up travelling to where Sanji was, and God knows his gut wasn't giving him a break as worry filled him more than any fighting urge.

* * *

Sanji groaned in pain as he forced himself up in the air, kicking at nothingness to put some distance in between the redhead and himself. His vision was coming back, his hearing as well, but the pain wasn't going away. It was so piercingly intense he couldn't even think straight. He watched as Dhor threw the axe his way and he let himself fall just enough as to get out of its way, just to kick back up and away from his opponent, who was now running after the axe. And Sanji let him, because he seriously needed to regain his breath and let the pain retreat a bit, else he'd get himself killed out of his diminishing capacity of reaction.

His feet safely landed on the ground, and he felt himself trip right after, but he caught himself and stood as straight as he could, breathing hard and almost choking as he wasn't filtering the oxygen properly, his hands hovering somewhere near the wound without touching it. His gaze was set on Dhor, who was still running after the axe, which had almost landed at the other side of the stadium. He let him do his thing. He needed the seconds to get a hold of himself. He felt Zoro's eyes boring a whole in his head every now and then as he fought his own rival, but Sanji didn't have time for that; he needed to focus. He watched as the redhead caught his axe and started running back to him, Sanji's stance coming back to a fighting one in response.

Thanks fuck the pain was slowly retreating. It had been bad enough to make him dizzy and numb his senses, and it was still violently throbbing, but he was forcing it away, his face contracted in a snarl and his breath slowly calming down. He didn't move until Dhor was practically on him. By then he had regained mobility and the pain had become duller, the first waves of agony already washed away. Just when Dhor landed a hit, Sanji jumped backwards, then kicked the air and closed the distance between them from a higher point, packing all of his strength in a kick the redhead blocked with his axe. Sanji retreated and waited for Dhor to attack again, giving himself a bit of a break in between his own attacks, which proved to work better for him.

The redhead gasped when Sanji managed to land a kick against his jaw, making him fall hard to the ground. Sanji forced out a strained smirk as he watched Dhor stand up in surprise.

"You couldn't possibly think this was over, right?"

* * *

"Your friend is in pain," Smith commented when they gave themselves two seconds to put some distance in between them and refocus after a storm of clashing and dodging.

"He is not my friend," Zoro growled. And it took all of his will not to turn around and check on Sanji, who seemed like he had gone back to fighting. He didn't know why he said that, it just came out naturally. He tried not to give any thought at how unconvincing he sounded.

"Wanna go help him?" the blonde taunted.

"I'd rather cut you in half right now, to be honest."

Smith let out a full-on grin and charged. Zoro snarled and blocked, his mind half there half not. He knew this fight was already taking a toll on Sanji. If they wanted this to go well they couldn't have fights lasting this long. The longer they lasted the higher the strain on Sanji's back and the higher the risk to have his injury setting him up for defeat.

He had to end this. Fast. Then he could go and give Sanji a hand and get him out of there before it got worse.

Smith's eyes widened when Zoro unsheathed Wado and placed it in his mouth. He smirked in recognition and attempted to land a hit, his confidence boosted now that he saw Zoro acknowledging him as a worthy rival. Which he was. But Zoro didn't have time and so he didn't waste any. He charged and made Smith retreat with a shocked look as he barely blocked in time, his strength clearly not enough to stop the hit, so the blonde had to change his strategy and dodge instead, letting his body fall and roll to the side. But Zoro was already on him, and just as he blocked again and tried to put some distance in between them, Zoro disarmed him, sending his swords flying in random directions and landing the much awaited hit. The swordsman watched as Smith's expression went from shocked to pained, realization hitting him as suddenly as Zoro's attack. Blood left his body where he had been cut, and the last look he gave Zoro before losing consciousness was one of utter defeat. That had been fast. Almost too fast.

Zoro vaguely registered the crowd going wild, but he chose to ignore it. He turned around to walk towards Sanji, but what he found wasn't what he was expecting. Sanji was standing right in front of Dhor, who was now laying on the floor with his face kicked in in a bloody mess, no signs of consciousness left. Sanji's chest was heaving, his stance far too tight, the pain evident in his face, but he was standing and tauntingly looking back at Zoro as he regained his breath, his hands laying on his hips for leverage with an overall badass pose.

"About time, Marimo," he panted. "Thought you'd never finish."

The public went wild. Zoro was surprised he could hear Sanji's words over the racket caused by the whole stadium screaming like there was no tomorrow and the presenter yelling like mad that they were the absolute victors of that 'epic' fight.

As always, Luffy's voice overpowered the rest spitting bullshit, but alongside his they could start distinguishing Franky's and Usopp's as well, that's how loud they were.

Sanji started walking his way out of the stadium as a staff member signaled them to do so and Zoro followed his lead, blinking at the lack of anything else to do.

Doctors quickly grabbed them and guided them to the medical room, where Zoro had all of his cuts checked. They weren't too bad. He watched as a doctor took care of an injury in Sanji's face and in his leg, but the blonde stood up as soon as they asked him to take his shirt of, claiming he was fine with a pretty convincing tone and excusing himself in order to go to the bathroom. The doctors let him go without much struggle as they were busy enough with the people who had been defeated. Smith and Dhor had just been entered into the room, and now the attention was on them. Zoro sighed when the doctor treating him nodded an okay and let him go as well, his gaze immediately looking for any trace of the blonde, but he had disappeared.

He had a pretty good idea of where he had gone, though. He just hopped he didn't get himself lost as he looked for him.

* * *

"Sanji's wound is in a bad condition," Chopper muttered, his expression all but worried.

Nami looked at him, biting her lip.

"Do you think he'll manage?" she asked, not paying attention to the new teams entering the arena to fight.

"Well, he's _Sanji_ and he's had much worse, but this particular wound is really delicate," Chopper explained. The redhead could tell that the reindeer was actually concerned, which made her restless. She knew when injuries weren't that serious when Chopper simply scolded the injured and told them to take care, but when he started _really_ worrying over them, and not only out of his job as a doctor, she knew they were quite bad. "If he just rested it wouldn't be too bad; it would be messing up with some of his lower mobility for a while but it would go away. But he is straining it way too much, he is actually making it worse, and it was already _too_ close when he got the injury, not to mention when the Viking hit him right there just now."

"Why did you let him fight, then?"

Chopper looked at her. She also looked worried. There was no accusation in her voice, just concern. So he decided to omit the detail that she had basically forced those two to participate in that tournament in order not to make her feel guilty. She obviously didn't know Sanji would get an injury like that one before the games started when she had registered them. It wasn't Nami's fault.

"Because it's Sanji. He can take it. But he is being a bit careless and even if it's him, it doesn't make it any less dangerous."

Nami looked at Luffy, who had calmed down from his high and was now intently listening at what Chopper was saying, his eyes fixed on Nami's. They shared a brief understanding look.

"Will he be fine, though?"

"He's had worse," Chopper shrugged, trying to reassure the others, but also himself. He meant it when he said that; he really had, and he had been fine, but if his current injury got worse, the doctor knew for sure that Sanji would be fucked, and the blonde was basically buying all the existent lottery tickets for that to happen.

Chopper found himself sighing.

"As long as it doesn't start bleeding again and the bones don't pierce each other it should be fine."

* * *

Sanji cursed when he got his blazer off and found the back of his shirt stained with a considerable amount of blood. Damn it, it was one of his favourite shirts!

He got the piece of clothing off and examined the bandages in the mirror, seeing as they had gone from white to scarlet. He huffed and left his shirt by the sink along with some clean bandages he had stolen from the medical center. He was quick to fish the painkillers' jar and swallow two at a time. It still hurt but it wasn't so bad, the pain was retreating, which was good. Just that it did so slower than before. Since he couldn't have what had just happened happening again, he settled for two pills instead of one, and he'd make sure he'd take another right before fighting. It did numb the pain and that's just what he needed.

Oh, fuck, he had been in a really tight spot there. Just when he thought that fucking little gash couldn't hurt more, a direct hit there had proved him wrong. He couldn't have another one in the next battle. It had blocked him for too long, it had numbed all of his senses so that his body could only register how much it hurt. He couldn't allow that, he had had his head almost chopped off after that and, last time he checked, that didn't lead to victory.

Sanji took his bandages off and washed the bullet wound carefully. The cream was making the flesh close fast, and the only spots of blood in there were the ones that had spurted out of his back injury and extended through the bandage along the fight. Nah, that one was fine. When he finished with that one and had already applied the cream, he frowned at himself in the mirror. He could hardly turn his body so that his hands reached his lower back without it hurting like a bitch, let alone wash it and evenly apply the remedy on the skin. Well, he could, but he wasn't exactly looking forward to it.

He then heard the door of the bathroom open and close. When he heard the sound of the lock being closed, he knew it was Zoro.

"How is it?" he heard him ask.

Sanji looked at Zoro through the mirror. "Not too bad."

"It's bleeding," the greenhead observed.

Sanji was surprised at the soft concern in the swordsman's voice. There wasn't any teasing or reproach in it, as it would normally be the case, just plain worry. Which would've been kind of alright hadn't it come out as soft and caring.

They both noticed it, both equally surprised, but none commented on it as Zoro walked towards Sanji, Sanji's gaze following the greenhead's reflection in front of him as Zoro approached him from the back.

He stopped right behind Sanji, examining the wound. It was looking bad, for something so small. Zoro frowned. When he lifted his gaze, he found that Sanji's reflection in the mirror was staring at him, his jaw clenched, not saying a word.

"Stop glaring and hand me the cloth," Zoro groaned, diverting his eye.

Sanji didn't stop glaring, but he surprisingly handed him the cloth. Zoro took it and dampened it, then proceeded to carefully clean the wound, getting rid of all traces of blood. Sanji stopped looking as soon as the fabric touched his skin, his eyes fixed on the sink in front of him now. The touch was too gentle and he was still coming to terms with the fact that Zoro could indeed be gentle. It wasn't something he was happy to acknowledge, especially when it was directed to him, but the fact is that the swordsman was being _gentle as fuck_, his touch feathery and almost caring as he tried not to abuse the gashed flesh. Sanji hissed at the slight pain but didn't complain. He felt the urge to tell Zoro to stop, but he knew he had to have the injury taken care of; he still had one or two rounds to fight. He couldn't quite pinpoint why Zoro's actions made him feel this perturbed, but they did, and he slowly felt himself tensing, the lingering touches a bit too much for him to take. He clenched his jaw tighter and waited, though, trying to ignore how thick the atmosphere around them was becoming.

When Zoro finished, he took the jar and coated his fingers with a thick amount of cream before starting to evenly spread it over the wound.

At first Sanji tensed even more in pain, but his body slowly relaxed as the cooling substance started soothing him. Was it the cream or Zoro's touch? The way he spread it was almost like a caress. Sanji shivered and ordered himself to shut the fuck up instead of giving in to his urges of turning around and screaming his head off to Zoro for no apparent reason he could find. Zoro's hands were burning, a weird contrast with the cool nature of the cream.

Sanji shivered again, this time more violently, when Zoro's hand descended a bit, and he felt Zoro stop.

"Are you alright?"

The blonde scrunched his eyes shut, internally cursing at the bastard. Why couldn't he stop asking this kind of questions he _never_ asked him? Why did he have to show him a caring side he didn't know how to cope with? It wasn't a side of Zoro meant for him, that he was sure of. He was the recipient of Zoro's insults and taunts, that's what Sanji knew how to deal with, and every time Zoro went out of his way to care for him and just went ahead and _showed it_, Sanji felt at loss of what to do. And apparently his body too, because now it was reacting weird as fuck, just like it had this morning when Zoro had done the exact same for him. And Sanji didn't know what to do with himself anymore.

"Can you hurry up? For fuck's sake, you are the slowest scumbag I've ever met when it comes to patching people up!" he heard himself barking, tension building in his shoulders.

Zoro kicked his ankle, glaring daggers at him, but Sanji ignored him, too concentrated in the sudden tension taking the reins of his body. The swordsman finished applying the substance and grabbed clean bandages.

And that's when it all went downhill.

Sanji was sensitive, stressed, confused and a bit lost at that moment, and when Zoro started wrapping his arms around him to bandage his torso, his chest almost pressed to Sanji's back, his hands half caressing his sides which each loop of the bandages, his breath millimeters away from Sanji's ear every time he closed the distance between them, body warmth emanating from the swordsman like a radiator on the cook… Sanji swore he lost it.

He couldn't begin to explain why _the fuck_ he felt his pants tighten, he couldn't begin to explain the heat in his stomach and he couldn't even understand the way both his chest and gut contorted in what was the most painful knot he had ever experienced, but as soon as he realized what was going on, all of the sudden, all color left his face and all strength left his body, his heart stopping in place and panic flooding his senses.

Zoro's ministrations were suddenly put to a halt when he felt Sanji's hands moving to grab his own, the grip painful enough to make him actually cringe. He blinked in confusion as Sanji tightened his hold and forcefully tried to pull Zoro's hands away from his body.

"Stop it," Sanji ordered.

And his voice was the tightest and tensest Zoro had ever heard it sound. He couldn't avoid frowning and his automatic reaction was to keep his hands firmly in place instead of letting Sanji pry them away.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

He felt Sanji tense and the blonde tried to push him away yet again, quite frantically, to no avail. As much as Sanji's grip was actually hurting him, Zoro had always had the upper body strength and they both knew it. If he wanted to keep his hands there, he would.

"Zoro, please, let go" Sanji hissed. And what Sanji didn't realize and actually caught Zoro off guard was that Sanji, the proud Blackleg Sanji, had just gone ahead and _pleaded_ to none other than Roronoa Zoro for him to let go. Which meant something was really _really_ wrong.

Sanji thanked whatever there was to thank when he felt Zoro's hands leave his body and he quickly took the chance to retreat. Or so he tried. His efforts proved vain when Zoro's hands turned him around and slammed him against the nearest wall. Sanji gasped in shock and went to yell at him but he swore his world fell apart when he opened his eyes and realized that Zoro had his gaze fixed in half shock in between the blonde's thighs, where he was currently housing a more than noticeable tent. What escaped his mouth at that very moment couldn't have possibly been a whine, or so he tried to convince himself of. Shame and embarrassment washed over him like a fucking tsunami, making him wish he'd just disappear.

Which he knew he wouldn't. He honestly felt like crying. He hadn't felt this humiliated in his whole life. He hadn't felt this helpless and vulnerable and ashamed in his life. This… this destroyed _everything_, forget about last night's talk. It was over. Sanji closed his eyes with everything he had, waiting for Zoro to let go and find an excuse to leave him alone with his business, running away from the scene as fast as lighting. But Zoro didn't do that. Sanji had to restrain a pathetic whine when he heard Zoro's voice quite close to his face.

"Open your eyes," he registered the swordsman ordering. The tone was commanding at the very least. Sanji couldn't remember a time where Zoro's voice had sounded lower or deeper than that. "Look at me," he insisted.

But Sanji couldn't.

He couldn't, for the life of him, bring himself to look back at Zoro. That'd be his breaking point and he knew it. In fact, he doubted he would ever be able to look at Zoro in the eye again without feeling a wave of insufferable shame hitting him. He just couldn't. He had gone and fucked up. He wasn't even questioning himself or his arousal anymore, he just wanted to disappear, he just wanted Zoro to leave him the fuck alone and avoid him like the plague just as he should do, so that Sanji could find the space to murder himself, because that's the only thing he felt like doing right now.

"Look at me."

Sanji let out a weak protest that sounded like a wounded animal's whine as he tried to squirm his way out of Zoro's tighter and tighter hold. All strength had left his body, though. He was stronger than this, he should have been able to put up a fight, and even if Zoro was holding his upper body in place with enough force as to stop his blood circulation and immobilize him, he still had his legs to fight with. His legs he could've used to kick Zoro away from him. He could picture the strategy, he had the whole range of movements he needed to become a free man and get the fuck out of there imprinted in his brain, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it, even if he ordered his body to. It didn't respond. He was blocked and there was not much to nothing he could do to get away, as much as he was lamely struggling in Zoro's hands, whining more than fighting.

Fuck. He really felt like crying in shame. This was the worst thing to happen to him to date, he swore. This fucked things up on a new scale.

"Sanji," Zoro growled, his tone starting to sound pissed off. Fuck, why did that bastard have to go and use his name? It wasn't even fair anymore.

"Let go," he managed in a strained voice as he made an attempt to push Zoro away, which ended up in miserable failure.

"No. Sanji, look at me."

Sanji felt as Zoro's hands pushed him further against the wall, effectively squishing the air out of his lungs. He only tightened his eyes in response, titling his head down and to the side. Which Zoro didn't allow as one of his hands left his shoulder only to be replaced by his forearm as Zoro maneuvered to grab Sanji's jaw and force his face in his direction.

"Look at me," he ordered yet again.

"No."

Sanji had tried to sound firm, but he couldn't. At that point he didn't even know what to do with himself. He didn't even understand himself. And he didn't understand Zoro. Why did Zoro keep pushing? Why wasn't he horrified and running away from him, or better, beating him up to a pulp in outrage? Why did he insist? Why did he sound so urgent? Why the fuck did Sanji feel this _weak_? And he _swore_ to God he had been ordering his dick to calm the fuck down all the while, invoking all kind of anti-lust images in his head to make it go away, but the damn thing he had never hated so much wasn't giving any signs of going soft whatsoever.

Zoro watched as Sanji's face scrunched in pain, not a physical one anymore, not able to look at him in the eye, his face red and contorted, his body as tense as it had ever been, the sounds leaving his mouth closer to a plea than to an order, which wasn't like Sanji at all. Seeing Sanji _panicking_ managed to make Zoro angry. Zoro was _furious_.

And he had had enough.

Sanji gasped when he felt Zoro's hand, which had been holding his face, suddenly grab his package through the fabric of his pants, roughly, almost painfully.

Oh, well, he _definitely_ hadn't been expecting that one _at all_.

"What the-"

"Look at me, Sanji. I am being fucking serious," Zoro growled as he tightened his grip, only making Sanji squirm even more, his whole body contorting in an attempt to avoid what was undoubtedly happening. Because Sanji swore this couldn't be possibly happening.

"Stop!" he yelled as he attempted a kick, which Zoro blocked with his thigh. Sanji was still not looking at him. He had opened his eyes but only to watch his own hands trying to pry away Zoro's from his crotch in a frantic and desperate effort.

"Then look at me."

"Fucking stop it or I am going to kill y-"

Sanji's voice cracked and died when Zoro's hand started to agressively move on him, making all kind of unspeakable feelings rip Sanji apart. Because the rough touch hurt more than anything, and it was only making him hate himself and Zoro more and more the more Zoro worked on the friction, but the worst part was that he was reacting to it, and he just knew that next sound that escaped his throat might as well be a moan.

"Want me to stop?"

Sanji wasn't even able to nod, his attention furiously set on trying to get Zoro's hand away from him. But Zoro used his other hand to grab Sanji's wrists together and, after a few seconds of Sanji putting up a lame fight to avoid it, he managed to pin his hands against the wall over his head, effectively leaving Sanji with nothing to reject him with. That, unless he chose to use his legs, which they both knew he could if he really wanted to. But he wasn't using them nor did he look as if he was about to as he closed his eyes again, his jaw clenching and his breath ragged as he tried to regain control over himself, his struggle reduced to the required minimum but nothing else.

"If you want me to stop, open your fucking eyes and fucking look at me, stop acting like a coward," Zoro resumed, his tone slightly threatening, the friction he was applying against Sanji's bulge even more intense in order to get his attention _somehow_, which made the blonde hiss loudly.

"This is not happening," he growled, starting to get pissed off just as much as he was desperate and panicking.

"This _is_ happening. Look at me in the eye, Sanji."

Zoro didn't exactly know why he was doing this. He was just fed up. He just wanted to make Sanji understand that running away from their issues and simply 'talking them out' didn't work anymore, he wanted to make him understand that shit happened and that it was _fine_. It was fucking fine, they'd get around it at some point, as conflicting as the situation might be. Because he was fed up with running away from it. He knew he didn't have the right to lecture anyone when it had been him who had been acting like a coward until the night before, Sanji being the one to coax some sense into everything and forcing them to face things, but he just couldn't stand Sanji's mortified expression. He really couldn't take it. It awakened the same kind of reaction he'd had in The Rock. It made something inside him churn, it made him want to do whatever he had at hand to make him understand that there was nothing wrong with what had just happened, even if a small rational part in him was repeatedly yelling at him that _yes_, this did fuck things up even more indeed. But he didn't listen to that.

He wanted to piss Sanji off, or calm him down, or irk him, whatever he managed to do to erase the afraid and panicky look currently bathing his features. Sanji was panicking. And if Sanji panicked they were both fucked, because he had always been the best out of the two at handling them. So Zoro was basically making a desperate effort to wash that away, to replace it with anger or relief, or whatever arose a reaction in Sanji that wasn't panicking and blocking himself.

He just wanted to make him understand it was okay.

Why his brilliant idea to achieve that had been attacking Sanji's crotch he couldn't tell, he just hadn't been able to think of anything else to force Sanji's attention on him. He had kind of come up with the thought that maybe if he grabbed Sanji right where the problem was he'd make him go soft and demonstrate them both that it hadn't been Zoro who had caused this reaction, because Zoro was convinced that there wasn't more of a turn-off for Sanji than the swordsman, out of all people, touching him like that. He knew it was a shit reason, but he wasn't thinking straight, he wasn't properly reasoning, and any justification as to why he was doing it was lame as fuck. He just wanted Sanji to look at him in the eye, to make him understand, but he had already done it and he found himself unable to stop even if he knew this was a bad idea. Even when he realized he was getting hard himself.

Oh, shit.

"Sanji, look at me," he repeated with a harsh and urgent groan, his hand grabbing Sanji's package harder, eliciting a gasp from the blonde. When Sanji merely bucked his hips back to avoid contact, Zoro lost his patience and found his hand acting out of its own will and making its way inside Sanji's pants aggressively in retaliation. He wasn't goning to let Sanji run away from the problem, he was sure as hell going to make him face it, even if it involved getting physical about it.

With that, Sanji finally snapped and glared at him with what was the angriest stare he had ever seen him give him.

"I fucking hate you," the blonde announced, making an effort to keep his glare in place and his voice from ending up in a moan, his hips frantically trying to retreat, Zoro's fingers inside the hem of his pants already. Man, was he pissed. Even through the frenzy and the sudden panic attack, the anger boiling inside was starting to get the best out of him.

Zoro found himself smirking at Sanji. "Feeling's mutual. See? It wasn't that difficult."

He then forced himself to let go of Sanji's crotch, the gesture taking much more effort and will-power than he had expected as his own length throbbed in his pants. Shit. This was an unexpected outcome. He wasn't supposed to get hard as well. His plan (if it could even be called that) was backfiring.

He took two quick steps back to calm himself down, as Sanji let out what should have been a relieved breath, but it sounded more like a frustrated moan, his bulge far more noticeable than before.

Zoro froze in place. Shit. This was _so_ backfiring. This is where Sanji's boner was supposed to be gone in disgust, this is where Sanji screamed bloody hell at him and forgot about his embarrassment and panic attack. This is where Zoro was supposed to calm the fuck down and tell Sanji that it was fine, that they'd sort this out somehow and that he didn't need to act like a virginal coward about this. Men had boners and needs, and sometimes frustration and tension were too much and led to certain things happening. That didn't mean anything and Zoro wouldn't ever hold it against him. That was the line Zoro's speech had taken in his head, that and maybe admitting that he had gotten hard fighting Sanji before, if and _only if_ Sanji hadn't calmed down by the end of Zoro's rant. Embarrassment in exchange of embarrassment. That would make things better.

Or at least that's what was supposed to happen in his head.

What _wasn't_ supposed to happen was Sanji getting even harder and him getting hard, which Sanji could see, and at loss for words.

This was not going well. This was not going well _at all_. For fuck's sake, when had he concluded that this was a good plan? Why hadn't he just fucking left when he had realized what was going on? What had possessed him to do what he had done under the pretext that it was a good idea to stop Sanji from panicking further?

Sanji's voice broke the deafening silence in a half venomous half defying tone.

"Are you fucking kidding, Zoro?"

And where Zoro thought Sanji would spit at him and insult all of his ancestors as rage took over, Sanji didn't. Instead, his voice came out loud and clear, yet dangerous when he said:

"You better finish what you started, you bastard."

Later on, Sanji would swear all of his brain cells had died at once, leaving him with no reasoning capacity. He would say that he didn't know what he was doing, he'd say it had been an overdose of painkillers messing up with his brain, he'd say he had lost control of his own actions.

But the truth is that he was pissed off. Zoro would find it funny if he knew that Sanji's panic attack had actually retreated, just as he had wanted to start with, being replaced by anger. At least _that_ had gone as planned. But it wasn't only anger. It was also frustration, confusion, helplessness and incomprehension of what was happening. That and a raging boner the bastard in front of him was deliberately responsible for. And just like the vengeful man Sanji was, he wasn't about to let Zoro fidget his way away from the chaos he had just created for God knows what reason. No. Zoro wasn't allowed to make a mess out of Sanji and then leave him there. Sanji didn't understand Zoro's actions, and he didn't want to. All he wanted now was to drag him with him in the deep well Zoro had thrown Sanji into.

So, even if he didn't exactly understand why he wasn't acting smart and letting it go in favour of pretending it had never happened, Sanji _knew_ what he was doing. He knew what he was asking for.

Zoro didn't disappoint him this time.

As soon as the words left his mouth, Zoro threw all common sense out of the window and rushed to Sanji, slamming the blonde's back against the wall, earning himself a low grunt from the other. He knew he shouldn't be doing this. But he also knew he had started it. And he knew that he wanted this. Why, he didn't know, but he wasn't interested in looking for answers at that moment. He was interested in finding relief. Maybe that's the only thing he had subconsciously been looking for when he had first slammed Sanji's back against the wall as soon as he had seen his arousal, maybe his lame excuses didn't have anything to do with it. He didn't know. He honestly didn't know. But then again, he had stopped thinking about that the moment he pressed his hips against Sanji's, creating rough friction that had them both clenching their jaws and restraining a groan.

He bucked his hips forwards and felt Sanji's arousal through the fabric of their pants, perfectly sliding against his own. Sanji didn't seem to have the patience for that, though. His hand made its way in between their bodies and reached inside Zoro's pants, shamelessly grabbing his cock and squeezing it roughly enough as to make Zoro hiss in pain. Zoro knew it was Sanji's frustrated way of blaming him for this. Zoro bit Sanji's shoulder to muffle a deep growl and Sanji's slight gasp filled his ears. The swordsman decided he liked that sound.

Sanji gave a tentative stroke at Zoro's length. It was slow and dubitative, all the forwardness of the first squeeze gone away and replaced by insecurity about how to proceed. His blurred and clouded mind registered the sensation of having another man's dick in his hand. It was just like his, but the other way round. That stupid mental ascertainment brought him some kind of reassurance, though. Sanji sucked in a harsh breath and stroked harder. He didn't expect Zoro to let out a sound in between a grunt and a moan, which made him stop again as he wasn't sure how to process Zoro's reaction. It couldn't have possibly made him harder, could it? But it had.

It was Zoro's turn to lose his patience as his hand unbuckled Sanji's belt and unzipped his pants for better access, not wasting a minute and getting a hold of Sanji's hard member, starting to stroke it as soon as he touched it. A moan immediately escaped Sanji's throat and Zoro swore it was one of the hottest sounds he had ever heard the cook make. It sent a shiver down his spine and encouraged him to quicken his pace, his hand easily sliding along Sanji's shaft.

Sanji regained part of his composure, trying to pull himself together to reciprocate, his hand tightening around Zoro's cock and starting to mimic the other's rhythm, which had Zoro panting right in his ear, their temples viciously plastered together.

Fuck, it felt _so_ good.

When Zoro's thumb pressed against his tip, smearing it with his own pre-cum, Sanji's once strong legs buckled, and Zoro had to stop his ministrations to get a hold of the blonde and awkwardly help him walk backwards against the sink, where the blonde could half sit against it, feet still pressed to the ground. He took the chance to lower Sanji's annoying pants to his ankles. Sanji was already pulling him back by the front of his shirt, more like aggressively _yanking_ him back. Zoro felt a deep growl leave his lips as soon as Sanji's mouth started attacking his strong neck, biting and kissing and licking on every inch of flesh he found as he proceeded to jerk Zoro off again. Zoro pressed the right side of his head against Sanji's, who roughly pressed back. His hand wrapped around Sanji's length, squeezing and then going all along the member in a painful slow motion that had Sanji ordering him to hurry the fuck up with what was the most threatening tone he had ever used with Zoro.

The way Sanji pressed against Zoro's member in retaliation had Zoro swiftly obeying.

The room was filled with pants and moans and wet sounds at that point, Sanji's far louder that Zoro's muffled ones. But they were still there and Sanji swore he was enjoying every single one of them. Never mind the fact that he was being louder; the fact that it was him who had Zoro turned into a quiet moany mess gave him a weird sense of personal satisfaction. He was able to bring Zoro to a breaking point, just as Zoro was proving to be able to do the same with him, but the thing is that he was taking Zoro apart, and that alone made the whole thing all the hotter.

Oh, shit, this was fucking _good_. Even if they knew it was _wrong_. The thought didn't manage to leave their minds as they continued with what they knew they should be stopping, but there was no turning point now, and they couldn't, for the life of them, stop there. Either they finished or they finished, no other options available.

Zoro hissed when Sanji managed a particular turn of his wrist that had him seeing stars, far too overwhelmed by the sudden pleasure he made him feel. His reaction was to bat Sanji's hand away with a warning growl, snarl in place. Sanji was about to stop abusing Zoro's neck in order to complain, but Zoro suddenly brought their cocks together and wrapped his big calloused hand around them both.

"Ah-"

Sanji's voice broke. It simply broke. His jaw fell slack as he brought his forehead against Zoro's shoulder for purchase, his hand quickly joining Zoro's and accommodating to the pace, helping the swordsman. Zoro's free hand went to find support against the sink, right behind Sanji's back, his body almost plastered to the cook's. Sanji's grabbed Zoro's nape and held to it for dear life, his legs giving in. Zoro kept him in place by pressing him further against the sink.

Their moans were now loud, their breaths coming short and half gasped, their faces red and glistening with sweat.

Sanji forced himself not to scream when his orgasm hit him. He clenched his jaw hard enough for it to be painful, his hold on Zoro's nape almost making the other dizzy with the sudden strength he packed in his hand. Zoro followed right after, grunting low and letting his forehead press against Sanji's shoulder, his release blinding him for a moment.

Oh.

_Fuck_.

They stayed like this for a minute, foreheads on each other's shoulder in an attempt to find purchase on the other. That until Sanji's knees definitely gave in and he slid to the floor, making Zoro let go and stumble backwards until his bare ass hit the floor. The swordsman let his whole body rest on the tiles as he tried to regain his breathing, thanking the coldness they brought to his heated body.

Sanji rested the back of his head against the sink, his arms resting on his bent bare knees, his brain far too fucked to come up with anything coherent.

It was only a long few minutes after, when he had managed to calm down and come back to his senses, that Sanji registered what had just happened. His gaze travelled to Zoro, who was laying spread on the floor, his legs parted and his pants lowered to the middle of his thighs, his manhood happily exposed for the world to see, looking more than satisfied.

His eyes widened at the sight, and then he noticed his own state, shirtless and with his legs bent and open in front of him, his pants pooling at his ankles.

Oh, for fuck's sake!

Panic came back as he scrambled to his feet, fighting against his own clothes in order to put them back in place.

Zoro's inactive brain managed to register the sudden signs of movement and he made an effort to straighten himself, taking in the image of Sanji zipping his pants with what could only be defined as a 'oh, fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck' expression. Reality hit him like a punch and he quickly pulled his pants back up, swearing out loud.

Sanji was already buttoning up his bloody shirt, barely checking that the bandages Zoro had wrapped him in had survived the assault. They luckily had.

He was quick to let the tap water flow at its maximum capacity, viciously scrubbing his hands in an attempt to get rid of their mixed cum.

"Shit, shit, shit, fucking shitty fuck," Zoro heard him curse.

He also needed to clean himself, but he wasn't sure if he should wait until Sanji was done or not. If he approached him now the blonde might just snap and kill him for real.

Zoro awkwardly stood up, scratching the back of his head, at loss of what to do, not knowing where to look at, occasionally risking glances at Sanji, who kept showing him his back as he made it a goal to make his hands the cleanest out of all Terevera.

The swordsman ended up in a blinking frenzy, trying to understand what had gotten into him and how they had ended up in this mess. He knew it was his fault. He just didn't know how he had let that happen. And he wanted to go back in time and change it, but he couldn't. He was already having a headache. Sanji wasn't even looking at him. A kiss had been enough to send them into some of the most disturbing and emotionally draining weeks of their lives; now they had just gone and done _this. _Obviously, a kiss wasn't enough of a challenge, they needed something that made things even more difficult, didn't they? Zoro was starting to freak out. They had excused the kiss by saying it had been a spur-of-the-moment thing where they had both been suffering a bit of an emotional breakdown after one of their nastiest fights. How were they supposed to justify this? It wasn't a spur-of-the-moment thing. Zoro didn't know why he had had the idiotic idea of making the first move, but he had known what he was doing. And Sanji had actively let it happen, throwing away their last chance of forgetting about what Zoro had started. No, it hadn't been Sanji. Zoro could still have gotten a hold of himself, he could have apologized and ran away, forgetting Sanji had ever asked him to continue. Which would have earned him a premature death, but he was starting to consider it a better fate that their actual predicament.

Because now, right when they had started to actually mend things for real, they had fucked up big time. They could overlook a kiss, but they could hardly pretend _this_ had never happened.

And just as his mental rant and self-blaming kept repeating in his head, his mouth grew a will of its own and tried to speak, tried to say something, _anything_, to make things better.

"Cook-"

"You had some nerve calling the fact of me grabbing your wrist and leading you around this morning gay."

Zoro closed his mouth with a clack. Bad course of action. Definitely. He should've kept his mouth shut. The cook had come back to himself and was _very_ pissed off indeed.

Sanji turned around to face him and Zoro froze in place. Sanji was looking at him dead in the eye, contrary to what he had been expecting. His glare was tough and unforgiving, it was as determined as it was panicked. But it wasn't weak. Embarrassment was clear by how his face was beaming red, and the slight trembling in his body gave away that either he was panicking or raging in fury and trying to restrain it. Or both. Nevertheless, his glare was unwavering. It turned tougher when he saw Zoro's lost stare.

"Get your shit together, Zoro, you started it," he growled.

Zoro flinched a bit. He knew it was his fault. And he couldn't get his head around how composed (trembling, self-restraint and shame aside) Sanji looked. He had somehow expected Sanji to be the one to freak out the most out of the two. And, well, Sanji was freaking out, he was about to explode, but he was handling it better than Zoro currently was as his brain had suffered a shutdown.

He shouldn't really be surprised. Sanji always surprised him. He had assumed he'd need to help him in the last battle, but he obviously didn't need to, because Sanji could handle his own problems by himself. The only time he had needed actual help had been back in The Rock, right where everything had started. And Zoro had helped him. Just then did Zoro realize that Sanji hadn't really needed his help after that. Sanji had fared better than he had all along. It was just then that Zoro realized that he had been mistakenly assuming that Sanji needed help with every problem he faced, when he really didn't. As much as he worried, Sanji could hold his own in that competition, with or without the injury.

When the pirate hunters had captured him and he had let himself be taken, Zoro had appeared like a knight and helped him, which any nakama would have done. The problem is that he had just assumed Sanji _needed_ rescuing. Only now was he considering that Sanji could have found a way of escaping by himself later on, with or without a woman as his captor. Him not being capable of hurting a woman didn't mean him wasting opportunities to escape. Sanji was an idiot, but he wasn't suicidal. He was one of the cleverest people Zoro had ever met, he would've probably found a way out of his captors' hands at some point.

Where Zoro had been freaking out and acting like a coward after the kiss, Sanji had been the one to look for common ground most of the times, even if the situation was as uncomfortable and sometimes unbearable for him as for Zoro. He had been the one to express how he felt first, cornering Zoro and kicking some sense into his dense brain.

And now he realized that, as much as Sanji had been panicking right when he had gotten a boner in front and maybe because of him minutes before, as much as he had looked as if he wanted to murder himself right there and then, as much as shame and fear hadn't let him look into Zoro's eye until he was coaxed to do so, Sanji would've still gathered himself together on his own. Where Zoro had felt the urge to fix him, to help him, to wipe that look away from his face by proving something stupid with his hand on him, now he realized Sanji could've done so himself without the need of Zoro fucking things up for not thinking twice and acting out of what his gut pushed him to do. Zoro could've avoided it. He would have just needed to walk away and leave Sanji alone, maybe reassure him afterwards, when things had calmed down, because Sanji _could've_ handled this by himself. But he hadn't contemplated that as an option, he had just acted out of the protectiveness he now realized Sanji awakened in him and he had done so in the worst and less understandable way possible.

For fuck's sake… he really was obsessed with the blonde. He had gotten it all wrong from the beginning. Asides from The Rock's incident, where Zoro thought Sanji needed help it turned out Sanji had been the strongest out of the two.

He almost wanted to laugh at how lame he was. He almost wanted to cry in frustration at how much Sanji managed to fuck his brain up. He had never been like this. Things used to be simpler. Things used to be easy. They weren't anymore and now he knew great part of the blame was on him. He knew as he stared back at Sanji's cutting stare, the blonde's words repeating in his head.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, not knowing what else to say.

Sanji frowned at him. "No, you are not."

But Sanji wasn't going to push this further. Zoro had started but he had continued. They were both to blame. Just that Zoro was the one to blame the most. Not that there was a point in doing so, though; shit had already happened.

To be fair, Sanji was also surprised at how well he was controlling himself. For how much he had been panicking at the start of it all, he sure was now composed. But he told himself that he didn't really have much choice. Either he freaked out for real and lost it, or he tried to get a hold of himself and prevented this from ending in further disaster. Maybe it was the fact that what he had been trying to avoid at the very beginning, when he had been desperately struggling against Zoro's hold, had already happened, so there was nothing much left to avoid asides from an undesirable panick attack that would amount to nothing as it wasn't going to prevent anything anymore. His brain was trying to get around the fact that yes, this had indeed happened and that the only thing left for him to do was to try and face the consequences as best as he could. Damage control, people called it.

But, shit, Zoro's lost puppy look was starting to get on his nerves.

"Oi, snap out of it, moss head, leave your brain hibernation for later, we need to _focus_!" Sanji barked as he snapped his fingers in Zoro's direction in hopes that he'd react. "And fucking wash your hands, you pig, that's gross!"

Zoro looked down at his hands and realized there was still cum on them. Oh, shit. He rushed to the sink and did as he was told, not realizing that he was acting a bit like a kid. Which pissed Sanji off. For how much he had been acting all tough and confident a few minutes ago, cornering Sanji and calling him a coward, he was sure acting like a pansy now. Very much the contrary to what Sanji had acted like. They undoubtedly were opposites in everything they did. They even took turns at braveness. Funny. Just that it wasn't.

The swordsman was surprised when Sanji smacked the back of his head. Sanji hardly used his hands for violence. Plus, he had slapped him pretty hard. He couldn't help it when a scowl darkened his features as soon as he turned to face the blonde.

"Man up. We need to win this shit and we won't if you keep on acting like a weakling."

Zoro could tell Sanji was just as much about to burst as him. He knew Sanji wanted to flee that room and away from Zoro as much as he did. But he was making an effort to compose himself, and that's the only thing that was saving them from a breakdown as he tried to behave just as he always did, the only element of normality left in the otherwise new ground they had stepped on.

Maybe it was Sanji's determination and his own brain's friendly reminder that he had started this shit and had now to face the consequences like an adult, but Zoro ordered himself to straighten up and imprint a determined and composed look in his face.

"And just who are you calling weakling? It's not me who goes around complaining about a scratch in my back."

He felt quite proud of how stable and believable he had managed to make that line sound. Almost as if he wasn't panicking inside when trying to bury thoughts about the consequences their acts would have after the competition ended.

"Shut your face, bastard," Sanji snarled back. And the bickering session made Zoro convince himself that it was a little bit less probable to suffer a heart attack now. "I swear to God, if _this_ gets in the way of our victory I am going to pulverize you and Nami will dance on your ashes."

"Whatever," Zoro muttered.

Sanji eyed him in what could only be described as a threatening way. It was taking all of his will power to keep himself from kicking Zoro's face in. But they needed to stay composed, now more than ever. They couldn't let themselves freak out about what had just happened, they couldn't afford to have second thoughts and never-ending regrets filling their minds if they wanted to win this tournament. And they sure as hell had to if they didn't want Nami to make it her personal goal to ruin their lives. Plus, their sanity could use a break. Sanji just knew that if he started thinking about it too much he'd just go nuts, overwhelmed by the possible meanings and outcomes of their actions. He particularly wanted to avoid asking himself the reasons why they had let this happen. Both his and Zoro's.

And just as he was trying to convince himself of all of that, Zoro had to go and open his big mouth.

"We'll talk about this later."

Sanji came to question Zoro's brain's existence. He swore the swordsman didn't own one. The fuck was he even talking about? Zoro was the least talkative person he had ever met and, out of all the topics, he grew a will to want to talk about _that_?! He mentally beat the crap out of him as he glared hard at him, his eyes conveying his murderous inclinations to the other.

"No, we won't."

Zoro blinked at Sanji's harsh response. He had been blinking a lot for the last few minutes. It may be his unconscious response to being disconcerted.

"Pull yourself together, stop with your bullshit verbal diarrhea and get your ass moving. We need to go back."

Sanji gave him a last warning glare and stomped off, almost breaking the lock in his rush to get the fuck out of there. Zoro cursed and followed suit. He didn't know how to get back to the waiting room from there. He jogged a bit to get to Sanji's level, but he didn't get to walk by his side, keeping a prudential distance between them. Sanji was walking fast enough as to make Zoro have a hard time keeping up with him.

He stared at Sanji's back and noticed, by his stance, that he was fuming. He then noticed that he wasn't walking as fluidly as he usually did, his lower mobility slightly strained. Zoro tried to get that thought out of his head. Overthinking and over-reacting had gotten them there. Plus, Sanji was right, they had to focus. They needed to. They could take care of the utter breakdown of their relationship when they won the fucking prize Nami wanted them to win.

And as he followed Sanji around the corridors, he couldn't help but curse himself a little. It had been his fault, yet it had been Sanji who had taken it upon himself to keep them both in place and focused when they had both been about to lose it. It had been him who had adopted their normal interacting pattern as if to demonstrate that they could overcome that, effectively managing to engage a very lost Zoro into it, giving him some reference to follow. It was funny how he had been trying to give that same kind of reassurance to Sanji when he had first pinned him against the wall, right before his brain short-circuited and thought it was a good idea to just go ahead and grab Sanji's crotch. It had ended up working the other way around apparently. He didn't even have the strength to let out a bitter smile.

Thank fuck Sanji had the composure to keep this from being an absolute disaster. Thank fuck Sanji was _there_. Even if he was half of the problem. Thank fuck it was _him_ who was the other half.

He stopped in his tracks when Sanji stopped in front of a door and turned around to glare at him, waiting for him to catch up.

"Earth to Marimo," he growled.

Zoro almost felt like smirking. Despite it all, certain things just came out just as casual. Maybe it was just Sanji making them sound casual.

"What," he forced out, his tone matching Sanji's pissed off one. He was quite proud of how convincing it had come out. Which, for some reason, brought him some reassurance in a moment where he was about to break down.

"I don't give a fuck if you're currently going through an existential revision of your long list of life's mistakes; keep it together and act _normal_. I'll kick you in the shin every time you space out for no reason. Hard. Got that? We need to keep it cool. _Nothing_ happened."

Zoro opened his mouth to reply but Sanji cut in.

"I don't want to hear it."

The greenhead scowled. But he shut up for good. He was about to counter the last statement by pointing out that this time they couldn't just ignore it and would _have_ to face it at some point, but taking into account that, at the moment, it would lead to nothing and that Zoro was nowhere ready to talk about it without freaking out and most likely having a mental breakdown, he deemed it wise to humor Sanji and shut his mouth. For now.

He ended up nodding.

"I want your shitty attitude back, Zoro, don't make me direct you like a puppet, make an effort," Sanji prodded.

"I am not a fucking puppet, least yours, asshole!" Zoro heard himself snap in outrage, the pissed off feeling at Sanji's insulting words momentarily taking his mind away from what was currently haunting him and eliciting an automatic reaction out of him.

Sanji smirked. "Much better, Marimo."

"Bastard."

"Dickhead."

"Shitty curly-brow!"

"Fucking caveman!"

Before Zoro knew it they were back in the waiting room and sitting down on a pair of empty chairs, both of them too immersed in their bickering session as to care about the glares they were receiving from the rest of the contestants. It was a familiar interaction pattern, and it somehow helped them soothe the situation a bit.

That until the door opened two minutes later and Aila and Allen came in, just a few scratches here and there. They were smiling when they looked at them.

"Shit, have we missed their match again?" Zoro cursed.

"Well, _yeah_." Sanji very eloquently answered, a 'no-shit' expression directed his way, making Zoro feel embarrassed and guilty as fuck. Well, of course they had missed it. They had been doing… other things.

Oh, _shit_. He tried not to let his face turn as red as a tomato. He swore he tried.

"Your match was really interesting, you are indeed good fighters. I am glad you classified for the next round."

Zoro lifted his head again when he heard Aila's voice by their side. They had stopped right next to them, smiles in place. Zoro felt himself come back as he interacted with someone that wasn't the shitty cook for a change, which he thanked. He merely raised a very unfriendly eyebrow. Sanji nodded, letting a small polite smile graze his features.

"Thank you, dear."

Zoro vaguely wondered what Sanji's problem with Aila was. He still treated her with courtesy, but there was a heavily different treatment as opposed to other females. For how stunningly beautiful that woman was, Sanji would've already proposed to her had she been any other woman. He didn't give it further thought as Aila's words activated all of his danger alarms.

"You are welcome. We are really looking forward to have a chance to fight you, it shall be fun. By the way, how's your back doing, Sanji? Couldn't help but notice you struggling a bit with it, you got us worried for a moment."

Zoro's head snapped up to threateningly glare at the woman, who was still smiling at them. He then looked at Sanji, who also kept his smile in place. It didn't reach his eyes, which didn't avert from Aila's. So they had noticed. Of course they would've noticed Sanji's weak spot. The question wasn't innocent. It wasn't even meant to be a question. It was a warning, if not a threat.

"My back is fine, thanks, I appreciate your concern, my flower."

Aila smiled wider. Allen mirrored the gesture. "We are glad to hear that," he answered. "We'll see you later."

Zoro watched as they left to the other end of the big room, everything in him switched on to alert mode. When he turned around he found Sanji uninterestedly watching the match going on at the moment through the screen.

"They know."

"Of course they do," Sanji shrugged.

"Is your back any better, though?"

Sanji titled his head to glower daggers at him. Why couldn't the bastard keep his mouth shut?

"Yes, Zoro," he wearily replied. When he saw Zoro's unconvinced expression he sighed and rolled his eyes. "It is, I swear. The pills and the cream are making their effect, I almost can't feel it. When I am not straining it it's not that bad."

Zoro carefully nodded and quickly diverted his gaze away. He couldn't keep eye contact for too long without images of the past hour flooding his brain. Sanji almost looked nonchalant now. Almost. If it wasn't for the furious tapping of his foot against the ground, Zoro couldn't have told that Sanji was going through the same inner freaking-out-but-trying-to-control-it session as him. He was acting so casually, as if nothing had happened, when almost half an hour ago they had been jerking each other off in a public bathroom.

Zoro closed his eyes tight and tried not to sigh. He couldn't begin to understand how they had ended up like this. But then again, his relationship with Sanji had always been unpredictable and a bit messed up, so it's not like he could be too surprised. He needed to sober up, get those images out of his head for a while and focus. Sanji was doing it and he could as well if he tried.

But even when his attention managed to stay on the screen, the thought didn't abandon his brain of how fucking good that moment with the bastard currently sat by his side had felt. He couldn't brush off the fact that it had been, with a high probability of the feeling not being exaggerated one bit by his still confused brain, the best jerk-off session Zoro had ever had or shared with anyone, as inexperienced, and even clumsy at certain points, they both have been at giving somebody else a handjob. Especially Sanji. Zoro knew he'd had a pair of drunk encounters with his same sex, but he was 120% sure that Sanji hadn't.

Just as the thought crossed his mind for the tenth time in the past twenty minutes, he risked a glance at Sanji's profile and swore he wasn't fucking getting half aroused again at the though. Sanji was too busy making it a goal to keep his gaze fixed on the screen as to notice Zoro's 'this is not happening' sudden expression.

Zoro could've easily excused himself to go to the bathroom to avoid anything humiliating from happening, but he was starting to be mad at himself for messing up and choosing the easy way out afterwards. So he fixed his eye on the screen, arms tightly crossed in front of his chest and jaw clenched as he emptied his brain from any thoughts it might come up with. Focus. He needed to focus.

He internally cursed at himself, and then at Sanji, and then at Nami for signing them up for this, and then at Sanji and then back at him three more times.

Both his and Sanji's goal for the past few weeks after the kiss had been to try and go back to normal, go back to the simple relationship they missed, no awkwardness or mixed emotions in between them. When he had woken up this morning he had genuinely thought they were on their actual way to doing so. After last night's talk he had seriously believed they had set the right path for them to fix what they needed to and just get over all the shit that had been bothering them.

That morning felt far away in time now.

If there was something he knew for sure, it was that they weren't going back to normal ever again. Their old relationship wasn't there anymore for them to get a hold of and drag it back. It was completely gone, no turning back in time, no going back to 'known', 'safe' and 'easy'.

They had fucked up, especially him, and now they had to face the consequences, as much as they might not like them at all.

From now on, either they tried to build new patterns for their relationship to work or they didn't have one at all anymore. From now on there were no 'givens'; from now on there was no actual familiar ground.

From now on they would be walking on a tightrope, which meant they'd better make wiser choices in the future, or else there was no avoiding the fall.

**TBC**

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**A/N: **OMG this was SO LONG. I make a vow to myself to never do this again, I almost died with this one hahahahaha But there is a good reason behind it... today Come Back is a year old! On this fine 5th of March one year ago I posted the first chapter, OMG WHAT, time flies by (*yells in excitement*)! So, in order to celebrate, I thought I would put what would normally be two chapters in one as a small present for you guys! Because it's thanks to you that this fic has kept going for one year and has reached 25 chapters, so I really wanted to thank you for all of your support, for subscribing, favouriting and commenting! I want to let you know that it inspires me and makes me want to continue! This fic was meant to be 10/15 chapters long, but at some point it just grew on me. And here we are (*sighs like a grandma*). So, really, thank you a lot! I hope you've been liking this fic so far, I hope it has been up to your standards and I hope you enjoyed this double celebration chapter!

That being said, it was a difficult one to write. There were two intense and long fighting scenes (which are always tricky to write), and, well, there was the last scene (*cough, cough*). They finally made a step, after 25 chapters things start getting a bit more serious! (excuse how slow I am). This is my first time writting a smut scene and even if I tried my best, I am aware I probably sucked at it, but it's really the first time I am writing this kind of stuff and I was embarrassed while doing so (*kneels down and waits for understanding for my lame excuses*). I am sorry if I disappointed you there, but I am a newbie in this department hahahaha I promise I'll try to be better next time, please accept my apologies if it wasn't too good!

The thing is that I wanted to have this one finished by today as a present for you all (last scene included and all, because, you know, I wanted it to be a good present hehehehe), so I have spent the past three days writing like crazy and revising and I swear half of my brain cells are dead by now and the other half are hibernating for a while hahahahaha It took a lot of effort to have it done in time, but I finally managed! (*satisfied author is satisfied*). Just please excuse any mistakes there might be, it was really really long and each revision takes more than an hour and I just can't bring myself to revise anymore (sorry, sorry).

I know some of you want these two idiots to pull themselves together and man up instead of making things more complicated each chapter, but I think that's just how they are. They never make things easy around each other. Where Sanji backs down, Zoro steps forward and viceversa. In my mind this is how they are: where both are freaking out and one is having a harder time than the other, the other will take it upon himself to handle their situation for the both of them. Which means they go from daring and confident to scared and insecure quite often, and it's fine because the other is there to compensate. It takes one of them to break down for the other to man up and viceversa. If they were with anyone else, they'd just keep it tough, I believe, because they'd take it upon themselves to carry the burden of whatever's going on and make things better. When they are with each other, though, there's this trust that the other will compensate where they are lacking, which means they are more sincere about their feelings and they can get rid of their tough mask a bit and just let go, knowing that the other will pick them up where they fall. And this is why this fic gets so complicated and frustrating at times, but don't worry, they are slowly getting to the point where they'll stop acting like idiots and actually facing their issues together at the same time (fear not, my readers, keep in mind that they have already broken the first barrier in this fine 5th of March (hehehehehe)).

So yeah, all in all, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you are enjoying the story! End of my rant. My apologies. Hhahahaha! I am sending you all a big hug, and I really thank you for supporting me all along, you inspire me! Now I'll let my brain cells hibernate for a while and I'll hopefully recover soon to start writing the next chapter (don't expect them to be as long as this one, I do appreciate my brain's wellbeing).

Thank you a lot, my darlings!

(*throws kisses and hugs and happily runs towards the sunset*)


	26. Chapter 26 - Halt

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**Chapter 26**

**Halt**

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Sanji innerly thanked whatever there was to thank when the bell signaling their fourth victory rang above their heads. He was breathing hard and in short intakes, almost coughing with every exhale, his face red and his body burning and sweaty. He stared down at the guy he had just beaten up, who was now laying on the floor, unconscious and surrounded by scattered teeth he had just knocked out with a kick. Sanji felt blood gathering in his mouth and he spat a considerable amount of it to the floor with somewhat of a disgusted expression as he willed himself to remain composed.

The third battle had been quite tough and it had tired him, straining his back until he had begun to fear for its safety. Asides from that, their opponents hadn't managed to land any solid hit on them, so there weren't any major injuries to add on to Sanji's sufferings. Once he had gotten out of the arena he had made his way to the restroom without waiting for Zoro whatsoever and he had engulfed two pills at a time, hoping with all his might that they'd act fast and reduce the pain, because God knows his spine _needed_ some fucking rest, which he wasn't granting.

Zoro hadn't followed this time, so he had changed the bandages on his own, quite clumsily and not tightening them enough, not to mention that the cream Chopper had prescribed him ended up smeared and only 'more or less' applied where it had to. It was nowhere near a satisfying nor a reassuring result, but it would have to do. Zoro wasn't there to help him this time, which Sanji thought was wise of him since he would've probably kicked him out the moment he had come in, but that only meant he had to get by on his own.

Luckily for them, the fight had gone quite smoothly, but it had been enough of a challenge as to keep their minds occupied and away from getting distracted with thoughts of what they had done earlier that day in the same restroom Sanji was now patching himself up in. That would've sucked and probably earned them a hard time getting through the fight since they weren't good at coping with their brains giving them shit about sensitive topics _and_ fighting at the same time.

When he had come back to the waiting room he found Zoro nowhere to be seen. People turned to look at him and he blatantly ignored them, knowing full well he was being inspected and practically dissected by them as they tried to figure out where his weak spot was. Sanji was a walking challenge for them and he totally felt like one.

He didn't see the twins either but he didn't give it further thought as he stomped out of the room in search of a certain moss head he just _knew_ had gotten lost. He found him about ten minutes later in an off-limits area one couldn't possibly find that easily, not to mention that, once you managed to get there only God knows how, there was a huge sign at some point in the hall reading 'access forbidden' that should keep people from going in there. Maybe it was that sight that prodded him to walk that way, somehow feeling that Zoro would be there.

And there he was indeed, with a confused look, looking around as if the whole stadium had just muted into a totally different place from the one he had gotten to know. Zoro had looked surprised and wary to see Sanji there glaring hard at him with an obviously pissed off expression. He didn't say anything, though, and neither did Sanji. They were painfully aware of the fact that they were alone in a place no one would be walking by anytime soon, and they both sure as hell wanted to avoid this kind of situations from now on, at least until they figured out what had gone wrong inside their brains a few hours ago, so Zoro simply followed Sanji when he turned around and led them away from there to more circulated areas. Zoro hadn't been able to ignore the slight limp Sanji was sporting, his back clearly giving him a hard time and slightly limiting his motions, but he didn't say anything either.

Even if he felt somewhat bad for not helping him out no matter the shit they were going through at that moment.

Only the thought that Sanji would've kicked him out anyway made him feel a bit justified. Plus, he had to remind himself that Sanji was perfectly capable of taking care of himself and that he didn't need a babysitter, something he hadn't considered for too many weeks until his own stupid attitude had led them where it had: utter disaster.

They spent their waiting time watching how teams knocked out other teams, narrowing the ones that were making it to the finals. Sanji gave Zoro shit about how they had missed the twins' game yet again, which they had obviously won as they were sat in the waiting room with a smirk on their faces when Zoro and Sanji came back, since the cook had been too busy looking for the damn lost marimo. Zoro had barked something back, both of them visibly trying to make things casual but being unable to get rid of the underlying tension floating in between them, failing to get certain recent memories out of their heads, because, fuck, how had they even gotten there? At some points it wasn't too difficult to forget and just do their thing but, over the last few hours, they kept on being repeatedly and randomly struck by the fact that, yes, they had done what they had done back in the bathroom, as if they hadn't realized before. And they could definitely tell when the other was thinking about that, because they suddenly became rigid, lost focus on the battles and tried to look anywhere else to get distracted again, their expressions visibly sporting the 'rethinking life choices' look.

Incidents and occasional mental breakdowns asides, everything ran quite smoothly until their fourth fight came to a start.

_That_ one was a close call. Both teams knew that they needed to win that one to become finalists. And both teams were damn good. Zoro didn't know if he wanted to thank the fact that they hadn't been paired up with the twins for that round or not. On the one hand they got the chance of them losing against the other remaining team and getting them off their back. On the other hand, they'd have to face them right in the finals if they didn't, with Sanji even more worn out and his back at its limits, carrying one more battle as a strain. The fact that one of the twins was a woman didn't quite help the situation for them. The fact that they knew where Sanji's physical weakness laid didn't sound encouraging either. And the twins most likely wouldn't lose that round, so Zoro was pretty sure they'd end up facing them. Bad news. Not less exciting, though. His brain was engaged in a conflict between how much he craved that kind of fight, how much adrenaline was pumping him up, and how worried he was about the obvious problems it would involve for them (his way of putting into words his worry about Sanji's wellbeing when he knew it was being put at risk far more than usual). He had to thank they hadn't faced any women's teams so far; that had definitely been a relief and a huge part of the reason they had gotten this far.

That aside, the fourth battle had been tough, with or without women. Sanji had received a pretty bad injury when his back had exploded in a wave of unexpected and excruciating pain with one of his many twists, momentarily leaving him with no control over his body in favour of numbing all of his senses so that he could only feel pain, which had ended up with his opponent landing a solid blow and a few of Sanji's ribs broken. Not something he wasn't used to, but his condition wasn't necessarily the best it could've been. He was struggling from the start, his back already complaining before he put it to work, which meant it was getting worse by the second, so a serious injury didn't exactly help his case. Fuck his back. He would've been fine if it hadn't been injured like that, damn it.

Zoro had lost concentration over seeing Sanji being hit hard enough to stop his breathing, hearing his bones crack and almost losing his head hadn't he reacted in time and avoided a second hit guided by what could only be the remnants of his survival instincts, since his brain hadn't been processing anything asides from how much his fucking back hurt. Compared to that, even the broken ribs felt like a small issue.

The small distraction had been enough for Zoro's opponent to cut deep into the flesh of his thigh, and from then on half of his efforts were concentrated on placing his footing right for each attack and avoiding limping so that it wouldn't get in his way.

It had been the stupidest mistake he had committed while fighting in _years_.

Fuck the cook and his back, really. And fuck himself for being enough of an idiot to care as much as to get hurt over getting distracted by that.

They had always watched each other's backs but it had been more of a 'checking everything's okay' job. Either one of them was fucked or the other wouldn't go out of his way to 'help' him; each one had their own job, sometimes they combined their strength to land more solid attacks when needed, and half of the time they subconsciously had each other's back covered as a team strategy they were fucking _good_ at, but that was about it. He could count the times he had _truly _been worried about Sanji during a fight with his fingers. Worried as in losing focus of what he was doing and risking his own position over freaking out about what was going on in Sanji's portion of the job division. Worried as in having his heart either stopping or climbing up his throat for a moment, worried as in _actually_ fearing for the cook's safety, worried as in feeling the urge to leave everything he was doing and run to him to try to help, even if he was leaving his own back unguarded. He doubted he could use all of his ten fingers to keep count on how many times that had happened. He doubted it even surpassed five.

That was before the whole 'The Rock incident', though.

After that, the times he had felt anxious on a daily basis about and around the cook for as much as him appearing sad or lost (to the point he was starting to consider it an obsession) had become countless. And now it was starting to happen during fights as well, which was a _bad_ sign. Zoro hardly got distracted when fighting, his discipline kept him away from it, only giving in said counted times. Now it was starting to be the usual thing. Now he found himself checking on Sanji more often than not, now he felt himself getting stressed and anxious every time Sanji barely dodged a hit or received one. Sure he could try to use Sanji's current back condition to justify himself for the extra attention he was giving him, but it hardly worked, not when Sanji had been through worse and still fighting before.

Funny thing is that, even when 50% of the time he had his attention or thoughts on Sanji, none of them were directed at what had happened between them in the bathroom, nor at the doomed kiss, nor at how fucked up their relationship had become lately. Nah, he wasn't thinking, not even for a moment, of any of that while fighting. That wasn't what distracted him. His attention was _merely_ on _Sanji_. Sanji's wellbeing was what had half his thoughts freaking out. Sanji's person itself was what was holding his attention away from where it should've been. And even if Sanji was having a pretty rough time with his back and had almost received a few fatal wounds asides from receiving a serious one, Zoro knew it wasn't enough to justify himself with: it was starting to get out of hand. Now he had been hurt himself because he had gotten distracted over it, and he knew he couldn't have that. But, as much as he kept telling himself to pull his shit together, his gaze kept travelling back to Sanji, his anxiety never receding.

At some point he had gotten Sanji's back and Sanji instinctively got his. At some point they started fighting together, not as in 'in the same arena against their own opponents while sharing the same goal', but as a _proper_ team. Zoro had become the crutch when Sanji's back gave in for a second and Sanji became his when his thigh made Zoro's movements a bit sluggish. Zoro clashed his own back against Sanji's when they both took steps back so as to give him some place he could lean against for a second; he kept him upright when Sanji's back shot another wave of pain and he stumbled, Zoro quickly stepping back so as to be his much needed wall. Sanji was Zoro's step when Zoro's leg faltered and his jumps or launches lost energy. He would lend him his leg and Zoro would simply use it and let Sanji send him flying to where he needed to, giving his thigh a rest.

Nami was right. They were the best team out of the whole Strawhat's crew. No matter how good each of them were individually, no matter how good of a team the whole bunch of nakamas were, when it came to teaming up, Zoro and Sanji cut it best as long as they both put their bullshit aside and cooperated. And they killed it. It barely took them a few minutes for the change of strategy to take a toll on their opponents and ultimately lead them to their victory.

By the end of it they were both exhausted and drained, their injuries starting to complain now that they had no battle to distract themselves with. And Sanji sure as hell was about to fall on his knees, the pain in his back having him rigid and barely able to move a muscle without it being a fucking mission in itself. And Zoro knew it, and he _did_ have the urge to step by Sanji's side and lend him his shoulder so that he could walk out of the arena in a dignified and less painful way, but he told himself that he no longer had the excuse of teaming up during the fight to help him, that he should mind his own business just as he should've done from the very beginning.

So he didn't do anything.

He just watched as Sanji walked away, and Zoro just knew that every step he took was hell to his back, but the cook just walked straight and proud, barely allowing himself a limp, the rigidness in his body concealed with the nonchalant demeanor Sanji was making an effort to pull. Which only made Zoro's bugging worry increase.

He knew it had to stop.

He knew he had to stop being this paranoid and protective over the cook, and he hated feeling this anxious over seeing him in pain because it didn't use to be like this, and he knew that Sanji would take it as an offence if he found Zoro worrying over this. Zoro _knew_ it was offensive. He knew that, between them, that counted as lack of respect, that counted as implying that he thought Sanji was weak and needed to be taken care of. Which he obviously didn't, but the joke would be on him if he _tried_ to explain that to the blonde once he had found out Zoro's current train of thought. He would most likely end up beaten up by a very outraged cook, back hurting or not.

So he didn't act on his annoyingly and unnecessarily protective urges, and he promised himself he wouldn't from now on. He didn't even have to dig in his brain to find memories to illustrate the consequences his recent behavior had caused.

When they got out of the arena they were directed to the medical room were doctors rushed to their side, knowing full well they barely had a few minutes to treat them right before the ones who really needed treatment, the defeated, were carried into the room. Most of the time they were hanging on the line of life or death, so their attention would automatically switch from the victors to them as soon as they were carried in, it had happened before.

Zoro's doctor didn't waste time in pulling his trousers down, to which Zoro automatically batted his hand away with a glare, but the other man gave him a stern look that had the swordsman remembering where he was and what the doctor was trying to do, so he willed himself to stay still and let him examine the deep gash in his thigh. He watched in boredom as the man cleaned the wound and stitched it up, all the while ignoring the pain in favour of remaining composed.

That until he raised his head, instinctively looking for a certain blonde. He found Sanji a few meters away with his shirt off as his own doctor examined his wounds and got rid of what Zoro noticed was a pretty poor bandaging. Which made him feel a pang of guilt, knowing that Sanji had done it alone. But the feeling washed away as he saw a raging bruise forming on his right side, right where he knew ribs were broken. It was spreading fast and it was getting darker by the moment, the size of it shocking at the very least, and it was only growing. That had been a pretty bad hit. Which was about the last thing Sanji needed to deal with during the final battle they now knew they were going to compete in.

Zoro watched as Sanji signaled for the doctor to apply the cream Chopper had given him. The swordsman's eyebrows rose when he saw but not heard how the blonde started to pull an annoyed face as he began to argue with the doctor, who kept pushing the small jar away from him, apparently keeping up with Sanji's fast arguing ability. The argument seemed to come to an end when the doctor's hand pushed harder and the jar ended up against Sanji's chest for him to either catch and keep or let fall. Sanji was visibly pissed off as he glared hard at his doctor and kept the cream jar in his pockets, reluctantly letting the other man bandage him. By the end of that, Zoro's thigh had been stitched and nearly bandaged and the defeated were carried into the room, gathering all the attention. Zoro's doctor did a quick job of finishing the bandaging and then left him to tend to the far more injured unconscious team.

When Zoro raised his gaze again Sanji was already on his feet and sneakily taking a hold of a roll of clean bandages, leaving the room faster than lightning. Zoro sighed and automatically followed suit, his previous resolutions apparently thrown through the window already.

It was no surprise when he saw Sanji walk into the now familiar bathroom, the door closing behind him, and Zoro sprinted the last few meters so that he could prevent it from being locked. He heard Sanji's surprised gasp as he planted his hand against the door and pushed it open before Sanji had the chance to lock it, barging inside before the blonde could kick him out.

"The fuck are you doing!"

"I also want that cream. And pills," Zoro curtly stated, glaring at him as if to dare him to object to that.

Sanji glared back, half confused half pissed off, but he ended up blinking and putting some considerable distance in between them, which Zoro correctly understood as an 'okay, but you better keep your fucking distance or else'.

"That fucking doctor didn't want to apply the damn cream, just like the one after our third battle" Sanji growled as he cautiously made his way to the sink, right in front of the mirrors. He was perfectly aware of the fact that they were both alone _again_ in the _same_ fucking bathroom they had jerked each other off just a few hours ago. There were too many alarms in his head telling him this was a bad and stupid idea, but he was hardly in the mood to argue or try to kick him out; his back was killing him right now. So he brushed away the constant flashes of Zoro slamming him against the wall and concentrated on venting his frustration out instead. "He said some shit about him not knowing what the cream was made of so he couldn't apply it or something since he didn't know what effect it could have. I fucking told him, though, but he didn't listen! The doctor who checked me first didn't have a problem with it, why the fuck do these fuckers have one? Now I have to do the job again."

Zoro raised an unimpressed eyebrow leaning his back against a wall with his arms crossed as Sanji spoke shit and got his shirt off yet again. If the blonde was uncomfortable showing him his bare torso now that the tables had turned and there was enough shit between them as to consider that unadvisable, he didn't show it. The swordsman wasn't oblivious to Sanji's glares through the mirror as he kept making sure that Zoro stayed in place and didn't do anything stupid again, but for the most part he was making the effort to concentrate on getting his bandages off. Zoro didn't offer help but he checked the looks of the wounds from the distance and, as expected, the bruise on Sanji's side had become bigger in the few minutes it had taken for them to get to the bathroom. The small gash in his back looked disgustingly raw and painful for how small it was.

"Is your breathing alright?" he absently asked.

Sanji simply nodded as he set his attention on applying the cream over the bruise and the bullet wound, where he could reach. He knew why Zoro asked, he was just trying to check if the broken ribs had somehow made an indentation in his lungs, which would have been _bad_. Not the first nor the last time to happen, and they had the reassurance that Chopper would take care of it just fine, but that was something they didn't need right now.

"Chopper would cry tears of joy if he saw you putting this much effort in following his instructions and actually taking care of your wounds for once," he found himself commenting with a surprisingly humorous note. Surprising because, with how tense he was right now as he fought recent flashbacks out of his head, last thing he expected from himself was to come up with any witty or sarcastic comments to lighten up the mood with. That was usually the cook's job.

Sanji scoffed. "I very much appreciate my balls and Nami wouldn't grant their safety didn't we win this shit, might as well put some effort in trying not to fuck up. I'm sure as hell not going to let this stupid wound cost me my jewels."

Zoro didn't think the one in his back was a stupid wound, but he didn't make the effort to voice it out loud. They both knew it wasn't, no friendly reminders needed.

"I'm still not sure overdosing is the best way to go about it, though. The jar says every four hours, not 'after every battle', which doesn't amount to more than two or three hours of a break in between," Zoro said instead as he watched Sanji struggling to apply the cream while ignoring him.

The way he was trying but failing to apply it right above the gash in his spine got on Zoro's nerves faster than he expected, so he ended up being more annoyed the more Sanji failed, the urge to snatch that jar from his hands and apply it himself starting to frustrate him.

"_Need any help?_" he found himself chewing out in the end, making it perfectly clear with his tone that this was stupid. He wouldn't have ever asked out loud, but he knew that if he moved even an inch from where he was he risked Sanji kicking him out or getting the wrong idea. No need to be a genius to see that Sanji was going through an inner nervous breakdown as he did his best to remain calm and civilized on the outside.

Which showed when he turned to glare at Zoro hard enough to pulverize him had human beings the ability to do that with mere looks.

Zoro got pissed off at the reaction but the fact that he knew it was expected and not entirely unreasonable (given Zoro's latest life choices and their unfortunate victim being Sanji) made him keep it in and raise his hands up in the air in a gesture that didn't quite achieve to conceal all the sarcasm it was charged with.

"Your choice, cook, no need to get all defensive, but if you keep fucking missing the spot every time I'm very much afraid we'll not only miss our last battle but also have grown white hairs by the time you're fucking done."

Sanji glared harder and Zoro knew he wanted to kick him, not out of the underlying tension and most recent facts taking a toll on him this time, but out of their old bickering and fighting urges automatically kicking in. But it was precisely due to the first circumstances that Sanji restrained himself and opted for a neutral path instead. They both knew where their fighting had gotten them more than once by now.

"I swear, if you pull anything on me this time you are fucking _dead_," he threatened with a dark stare as he slightly reached the jar to him.

Zoro huffed and pushed himself away from the wall in very calculated motions, trying to keep everything under control, not giving Sanji reasons to send him away with his every next step. He took the jar from his hands, mindful of not letting their fingers brush, something he had never really cared about until now. Sanji gave him his back and glared hard through the mirror. This time there was no effort to relax from the blonde, he was tense as fuck, and Zoro knew he was on guard, which the greenhead told himself was basically his own fault.

He did a fast job of applying it right where it was needed with barely the tips of his fingers and then handed it back in what he told himself wasn't a rush. Sanji wasn't the only one tense and uncomfortable; Zoro was on edge as well, and now they both could tell.

"I need some for my thigh," Zoro rasped. "The stitches are going to come out as soon as I start fighting, I need something for it not to become burdensome when it hurts."

"Since when do you self-medicate?" Sanji asked with the same tone Zoro had used when commenting Sanji's sudden compliance with Chopper's orders. "Last time I checked you were nothing short of a masochist."

"Ever since I came to the realization that Nami won't spare us if we don't win this shit," Zoro retaliated the same way Sanji had before.

Sanji found himself smirking at the comment despite everything, and he visibly relaxed a bit as Zoro took the jar and put some distance in between them to tend to his own wound.

All chill disappeared as soon as he saw the greenhead pull his pants down without as much as a care in the world, the sight reviving a few unwanted images in his head as that had been the first thing Sanji had consciously seen and processed after getting each other off hours ago: Zoro laying on the floor with his pants pooled at his ankles. He quickly pried his eyes away from the offending sight, trying to ignore Zoro as he applied the cream on his now stitched up cut. At least he was now wearing boxers.

"How the hell did you even get that?" Sanji forced out with a disapproving expression, trying to talk his way out of his own traitorous thoughts.

Zoro stopped his movements and looked at the floor, then at Sanji, with a dubitative look which didn't fit him at all, to which Sanji raised an eyebrow.

Well, Zoro could hardly tell him it had been the consequence of a slip of his attention. A distraction caused by Sanji. A distraction fueled by his own irrational worry, his _obsession_, with Sanji. As he had previously concluded, telling that to the cook would only make things significantly worse.

"Uh… Got distracted," he lamely responded. To which Sanji raised his other eyebrow.

"You never get distracted," he judgingly replied.

"Well, shit happens."

"I swear to God, if it's because of before I will fucking kick your ass so hard that-"

"It wasn't because of _that_, cook. Chill already."

And Sanji luckily dropped it. He mustn't have been in the mood to argue, for which Zoro thanked his lately absent lucky star.

At some point they were both bandaging themselves at the same time, Sanji visibly struggling far more than Zoro did with the angle he had to work with and swearing under his breath. Zoro ended up growling and showing Sanji his open palm a few feet away from him, silently asking for permission to help since now he didn't feel free to just go, snatch it and do it himself as he would've done before. Now something as 'daring' as that felt like crossing some kind of boundary. Sanji took his time to acknowledge the gesture, process it, glare at Zoro in what could only be read as a threat and ended up handing the tip of the half-settled bandage to him. He was tense again, more like apprehensive and even a bit frantic at the closeness, which Zoro could tell, especially because he wasn't far from Sanji's predicament, so he kept his distance and did it as best as he could, avoiding touching the other as much as possible while still doing a better job than Sanji had so far, which had him feeling much more relieved by the end of it, knowing that Sanji's wound was well taken care of.

"See? It wasn't that bad, you paranoid," Zoro let out with a bitter growl. He then closed his mouth wondering why he had to go and make a comment like that which he knew would only get on Sanji's nerves and his own, since it was a pretty sensitive and _recent_ topic for _both_.

"Is this a fucking joke to you?" Sanji snapped, glowering daggers at him through his reflection just to proceed with that same course of action as he turned around to face the other.

Zoro sighed and shook his head. "No."

"Then save those stupid comments for when you haven't started the shit you're trying to make fun of."

"Okay, okay, I fucking get it, can't you just chill?" Zoro barked back, his arguing instincts getting the best out of him.

"Says the one who fucked things up and freaked out right after, leaving me with the 'let's all calm the fuck down and think straight' job to deal with."

And Zoro couldn't, for the life of him, find any smart or justifiable retort to that because, damn, Sanji did have a point there. His hand went to scratch the back of his neck as he took the blow as best as he could, which was quite poorly.

"Damn, you're bitchy today," he muttered in discomfort, slightly pissed off at Sanji's smart mouth.

"No, I'm on edge, and guess whose damn fault it is," Sanji retorted with an accusing stare directed at him.

Zoro scoffed, starting to lose his patience. "I said I get it, damn it, can't you just drop it?! I was trying to help here, seeing as you couldn't bandage yourself for saving your life!"

Sanji ignored him in favour of popping the pills jar open and swallowing two at a time. Only then did Zoro notice how sweaty Sanji was and how hard his breathing came in and out.

"You're going to overdose," he pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

"Shut it."

Sanji shook the jar in front of Zoro's eyes with a pointed look, as if asking him if he wanted some, clearly ignoring Zoro's comment. When Zoro didn't say no to that, even when he hadn't even nodded, Sanji tossed it to him for Zoro to catch, which had the greenhead's attention away from the blonde for a moment.

"One is more than enough if it's not hurting too much, Chopper did a good job with these," Sanji informed, turning around to face the sink and splashing some water against his face to get rid of the sweat and feel refreshed.

Zoro furrowed his brows because, then again, Sanji had taken two of them, which gave him a slight clue of how bad his back was getting, but instead of commenting on it he just swallowed one pill and got it over with.

"Are we done here?"

Zoro's attention went back to Sanji, who was now buttoning his bloodied shirt up, looking more than ready to fly away from there, as far as he could and possibly somewhere they wouldn't be alone with each other. Zoro nodded and Sanji almost sighed in relief as he said no more and stomped out of the room as soon as he had snatched the jar back, leaving Zoro to either follow him or get lost. Something told the swordsman that Sanji wouldn't go after him this time around if he somehow ended up with the second option, so he willed himself to follow suit, leaving the doomed bathroom behind, memories chasing them along the corridors as they tried to keep everything under control for the time being.

* * *

When they got to the waiting room they found it empty.

Well, that was a surprise.

The monitors were off and only a few bulbs remained in charge of lighting up the place. Sanji scrunched his nose over the fact that they had, yet again, missed the twins' match, even if he swore they hadn't been in the bathroom for _that _long, as much as it had felt insufferably eternal for him.

"Where's everybody?" asked Zoro as he scanned the room only to confirm its emptiness. He felt more anxious over the last events taking place between him and Sanji than over the apparent general absence of everyone.

"I know the same as you, moss-head," Sanji absently answered.

And since they had their guard automatically up, when someone behind them rasped to get their attention, said someone became _this_ close to losing his head and having his ribs destroyed as Zoro stopped the blade of one of his swords barely millimeters away from his neck and Sanji stopped his kick midway as soon as he recognized the face that was now a textbook example of what terror means.

He was one of the men in charge of leading the contestants here and there along the competition, a petite guy Sanji had barely paid attention to asides from when he was telling him where to go next.

Sanji swore it was a miracle that he hadn't pissed his pants.

Both Zoro and Sanji relaxed and retreated a bit in order to let the poor guy get a hold of his heart as his body trembled in slight panic at how close he had been to being killed by accident.

"I didn't mean to surprise you," he weakly apologized when he found words to speak.

"Where's everyone?" Zoro tried again.

"The competition has been halted for today," the guy answered with almost a fearful tone.

"What do you mean halted? We are already at the finals! There's only one match to go!" Sanji protested, already feeling a headache forming because _why_. They were _this_ close to be done with all this shit in less than an hour and now… now what?

"The finals will be held tomorrow," the petite guy quickly told them, waving his hands in front of him in a frantic manner.

"Care to explain why?" Sanji inquired, massaging the bridge of his nose in an attempt to collect some patience. The fact that they had scared the shit out of that dude was apparently not helping him in the articulate department.

"We had many contestants and the whole competition got longer than expected. It's already eight o'clock at night and the directors of the venue have deemed adequate to call it a day as for now, and proceed tomorrow with the big match."

"More like they want double the money they've been earning from the audience," Zoro groaned, knowing full well that a prolongation of the competition the day after would only mean more cash for whoever was in charge of the venue as they were sure to have a massive audience for the final match, especially if it was between them and the twins.

"Who won the other match?" Sanji asked.

Oh, true, Zoro had assumed the twins would've won.

"They are still fighting," the guy answered, and both their eyes widened because, fuck, they were fucking missing it _again_!

"Why are the damn monitors off?" Sanji snapped, accusingly pointing at the many very silent TVs in the room.

"Because there was no one else left in the room and nobody is supposed to be here anymore, that's why I was looking for you two, in order to inform you about everything," the other politely answered, albeit scared of Sanji's murderous aura.

"Is there any way to watch it from somewhere?" Zoro wanted to know, keeping his cool for both of them since all Sanji was bound to do was yell at the manager.

"I'm afraid not, sir."

Sanji pulverized the shit out of the poor guy with a death glare and Zoro huffed in pure annoyance. Then he proceeded to take a hold of Sanji's elbow, which earned him an even worse and ten times more aggressive glare, and forced the blonde to walk in front of him before he could beat the shit out of the innocent guy who had the bad luck to be in charge of informing them out of frustration.

"Thanks for the information, we'll be leaving now," he chewed, his jaw clenched out of a mixture of him using all his strength to bodily force Sanji to keep going without letting go of his elbow, which Sanji had turned into a fucking weapon against his ribs, and him masking his own pissed-off feelings at how this shit seemed to have no end.

"Fucking let go," Sanji growled with a specially strong jerk of his arm.

Zoro obeyed and kicked his heel instead to force him to walk ahead instead of backwards.

"S'not his fault," Zoro reminded him with a roll of his eyes.

Sanji didn't listen to a word he said as he angrily stomped away through halls Zoro couldn't recognize until they found themselves in the street, the buzz there contrasting with how silent it had been inside the now empty stadium. Only when they walked out could they hear the crowd roaring from the grandstand, the battle apparently still going.

"Now what."

"What kind of joke is this?!" Sanji exploded, ignoring Zoro's words as per usual. Zoro could tell he was frustrated, maybe even more than Zoro himself and that was something to say considering how over the edge he was. "We were meant to finish this shit today! How the fuck did we end up here again?!" he snapped, turning to face Zoro with an accusing glare that did wonders to piss the swordsman off.

"I remember saying _no_ quite clearly, but then _you_ went and fell for whatever spell that witch casted on you," he replied with a biting tone. "Yeah, I think that's pretty much how we ended up here. Rings a bell?"

Sanji groaned and decided that it would be a great idea to hit his head against a wall to get rid of the many brain cells that were currently causing havoc in his head. He ended up restraining himself as he deemed it would probably not help him in the dignity-leftovers department.

"It was supposed to end today…" he repeated a little bit more weakly, and Zoro swore the blonde might just break under stress right there and then.

Sanji was right, this shit was taking a toll on them both.

"We'll end it tomorrow, okay? Then it's over and we can both go our separate ways for a while and try to sort shit out but, for now, fucking _chill_."

It would never stop to amaze them how they went from being the one breaking down to the one keeping everything collected for the sake of both from one minute to the other. Sanji had been the one who had been keeping his shit together the longest while Zoro had had the most obvious and uncontrolled freak out sessions lately, which was unlike the swordsman. It had been Sanji and his 'I am not dealing with our bullshit' attitude that had kept them both at bay when they were freaking out and about to break things, Zoro being the first one to lose it as soon as he found himself unable to understand his own actions. But, then again, when it had been Sanji who was on edge, it just came out naturally to take his 'let's all calm the fuck down' role and use it on him instead. Kind of funny how they kept telling the other to fucking chill when they had been the ones who had been losing it minutes before. But that's how they worked, he guessed. They had gotten used to have each other's back when necessary, and that's how they were holding on so far. Hadn't there been this kind of equilibrium between them, the situation would have blown up on them long ago.

Sanji glared at Zoro, as if to ask him how the fuck was he supposed to chill when he was doomed to spend another day revolting around the man who had jumped him hours ago in the bathroom. Who happened to be his nakama and his eternal rival. He had just wanted to be done with it, go home and not have to see Zoro for a few days so that either the shit they had started would've settled down in a silent agreement of never bringing it up again, not even in their memories, or he would have time to figure out what the fuck was going on because, _really now_. That hope had been what had kept him stable and collected throughout the day, both for him and for Zoro, but now that he saw as his torture was prolonged he was only capable of wondering _why_ on Earth did karma hate him this much. He was just asking for a fucking break.

"So? What do we do now? Do we go back to the Sunny?"

Zoro's voice got him out of his private rant, and his first thought was _why_ the hell had Zoro used 'we', I mean, hadn't they had enough shared time already as to wonder what to do next _together_? To be honest, Sanji wanted to go wander alone and get some fresh air, he hadn't even thought of what Zoro would do until the rest of the crew came out of the stadium, but now that Zoro asked he knew the bastard couldn't be left alone or else they wouldn't find him until three days later and the final match wouldn't take place at all, which would earn him his paternity career if Nami had anything to do with it.

So babysitting time it was. Wasn't he a lucky guy.

"We'll wait for the others to come out. Then we'll decide all together," he sighed, and he knew Zoro could tell he didn't want to be here with him. Just as much as Zoro wanted to be anywhere where the cook wasn't and Sanji knew as well.

They both hoped the match wouldn't last long.

And it didn't. At some point they heard a deafening roar that startled both of them (in a very manly way of course) as they most likely had never heard anything of the kind. Not even when they had been the victors, standing in the center of that big-ass stadium, had they heard anything like that.

"Am I the only one thinking that the twins won?" Zoro muttered, serious expression back in place, thoughts distracted for a moment from their issues to attend to the most urgent one. One that was currently giving him a bad feeling.

Sanji shook his head by his side, eyes fixed on the top of the stadium, as if he looked hard enough he could see through its walls. It had definitely been the twins.

They didn't have it confirmed by the voice of the commentator as they heard him screaming something very much excitedly, but they didn't get to understand a word he said over the raging roar.

The stadium started emptying a few minutes later as everyone made their way outside in a crowded mess. Sanji started walking through the mass of people with his head held high in hopes of finding their nakama, a permanent nagging feeling thundering in his chest. Zoro followed close enough that at some points his chest forcibly pressed against Sanji's back when they got squeezed by the people around, making Sanji visibly tense and yet he took it because he knew it was hardly Zoro's fault.

He didn't notice how Zoro unconsciously started hovering his arms around Sanji's sides and back in order to mitigate any avoidable harsh bumps against Sanji's wounds since he knew his back wouldn't be taking much more shit than it had already, and the place was crowded enough as for it to be difficult to breathe, let alone avoid contact with people around. And when Zoro realized what he was doing he wanted to puke over the protectiveness he was oozing, but then again, this was starting to be the usual thing and Sanji didn't seem to notice, so no need to fight his urges away for now. As long as he wasn't too obvious he could literally have Sanji's back and have some peace of mind with it, albeit knowing this wasn't a good sign.

At some point Sanji spotted a luscious red mane.

"Nami, my flower!" he cooed. And now Zoro swore he _did_ have the urge to puke for real.

"You are an idiot," he muttered with the usual annoyance Sanji's wooing always caused him.

"Shut your ugly mug, I'm trying to get her to see us," Sanji snapped, half turning for the whole purpose of glaring at him and then turning again to make his way to where Nami, and probably the rest, were. "Nami, darliiiing! We are here!"

Zoro rolled his eyes, scowl back in place as he put some distance in between Sanji and him and stopped his protective gestures around him because _fuck it_. The bastard had no problem twirling around like an idiot to get the attention of the witch, so he could take care of his back on his own.

"What are you doing outside?" Nami asked in surprise as she spotted Sanji a few feet away from her. When she saw Sanji's state, she frowned. "Hey, are you alright? Your back seemed to be giving you trouble…"

"They kicked us out, apparently the finals are going to be held tomorrow," Sanji kindly explained as he planted a hand on the small of Nami's back to guide her away from the crowd.

Or try to, because next thing he knew Luffy was hugging him like crazy and yelling in his ear just how fantastic and badass they had been.

"Fucking get off!" Sanji ordered, but Luffy squeezed harder and a pang of pain hit his lower back, which made him slightly cringe and stop resisting in favour of not straining it further.

Luffy didn't seem to notice his small crisis as he kept laughing against his ear and demanding a meat feast to celebrate just how awesome they had been and just how proud of a captain he was.

And Sanji found himself smiling because, as much of a loud idiot his captain was, he always found ways to make his nakama feel better, and he didn't know if Luffy knew what he was doing or not, but sure as hell his laughter, his words and _that_ hug had him feeling so much better. Not that he'd ever say it out loud but he had grown fond of the raven haired boy and whenever he turned into a bubbly mess it would always make Sanji smile. And, in this case, hug him back, albeit half assed and quick enough that no one would be questioning his toughness and manliness.

"We should get going, Luffy, this is pretty crowded," he reasoned after finally getting Luffy off of him.

But Luffy was already jumping on Zoro's back to proceed with the same ritual he had performed on Sanji, leaving him with the rest of the crew to congratulate him and Zoro for the amazing matches and maybe worry a bit about Sanji's health. They had all seen Sanji struggling, they all knew it had been bad and they all knew that prolonging the competition for one more day wouldn't exactly help him, but they weren't too obvious about it, for Sanji's pride.

Except for Chopper, of course.

"You'll have to let me check your wounds and those ribs, Sanji," he announced matter-of-factly, at least having the decency of not examining him right in the middle of the street.

"Zoro got quite a bad cut on his thigh as well," Sanji lazily commented, deciding that, if he was going to suffer Chopper's hellish stubbornness, he might as well drag Zoro with him.

"I'm going to check that wound on your thigh as well, Zoro!" the reindeer announced through the crowd, to which Zoro cringed and accusingly looked at Sanji, knowing full well what he had done there even if he hadn't heard him over how loud Luffy was being against his ear.

"Get the fuck off, Luffy!" he yelled back at his captain as he shoved him off with everything but grace.

"Are we going to the Sunny?" Sanji asked to Nami. "I can cook something for all of us there."

"We are, but Zoro and you aren't."

"Wait, what!" both Zoro and Sanji exclaimed, already not liking where this was going.

"The directors of the venue offered the finalists a stay in a hotel nearby so that you can be here in time tomorrow," Nami patiently explained, already knowing she was going to have to fight through this.

"I'm not sleeping in a fucking hotel, I can sleep in our boat, I'm not a king," Zoro groaned, not liking it at all.

"Why would they offer that, do they think we are homeless?" Sanji intervened with a mortified expression. Zoro sure as hell looked cheap but he, Sanji Blackleg, didn't, dammit!

"How do you even know? Nobody told us anything," Zoro pointed out suspiciously.

"I signed you up for this competitions, I'm like your manager, I get the information for you since you are too busy fighting and being idiots," Nami easily answered as a matter of fact.

"And how in hell have we been idiots for the last day, may I ask?" Zoro growled, harshly frowning at Nami.

Which earned him a hard slap of the back of Sanji's hand against his abdomen. "Don't frown at her."

"Shut the fuck up."

"And that's what I meant," Nami resumed. "So yeah, you get a room in a hotel nearby and sleep there for practical reasons. Your names are already in the register, you only have to go there and show your face for them to give you the key."

"Wait a second there, witch, did I hear '_a_ room'?" Zoro inquired, towering over her, which had Sanji gripping the back of his shirt to pull him back to his place and let Nami breathe, with a death threat in his lips if he didn't stop being rude to her.

"You heard right," Nami answered with a raised eyebrow.

"As in, a single room? For both of us to share?" Zoro chewed.

And when Nami shrugged and nodded Zoro wanted to have a hole swallow him right there and then.

"I'm not sharing a room with this bastard!" both Sanji and Zoro protested as they pointed at each other in outrage.

"Well, you are. They are letting you stay on their expenses, but that doesn't mean they'll give you three rooms each. Be happy with one for both," Nami counterattacked with calculated nonchalance.

"I don't want one! I want none! I want my fucking mattress in the _fucking_ boat!" Zoro barked.

"Oi bro, don't insult Sunny, that's not cool!" Franky reprimanded him as he slapped the green head in the back of his head.

"Nami, is there any way to avoid this disaster, my flower?" Sanji pleaded, knowing full well that starting an argument with her would lead them nowhere. He really didn't want this, what the fuck, what was his karma! "I mean, we can always politely refuse and just go back to the ship with everyone."

"No, Sanji, they offered this, if we say no we are leaving a bad impression and we don't want that, we are talking about the directors of this whole competition, who can influence what's going on in there. If there's one thing we don't want, it's them frowning at our ungratefulness. Believe me when I say it sounded more like a demand than like a question. I agreed and you are inscribed for the night, so don't make a fuss and comply, you are the ones who'll sleep more comfortably after all, so don't complain."

"Yes, Nami, I understand, but it's not that much of a big deal, it's only a room they offered, I really don't think there's anything wrong with refusing…"

"Yes, there is Sanji, you should know better than anyone that there are certain social rules that should be followed at certain levels, and one of them is to never refuse the generosity of your host, especially not when they are rich and powerful and have actual influence over how things are going to go tomorrow. We are talking about rich and conceited people here, God knows they might take a 'no' like a personal offence," Nami countered. "Plus, if it's not that much of a big deal, 'only a room they offered', why are you putting so much of a fight? I mean, I get you can't stand each other but you're both adults and-"

"You witch, you had it all planned, didn't you?!" Zoro accused, his eye twitching because he was ready to break things. Sharing a room with Sanji? Really now? Who had made it a goal to mock them both at this point?

"Don't call her witch, you shitty swordsman!" Sanji kicked Zoro in the shin and had him going through bloody pain down there.

"No, Zoro, this time I didn't have anything planned," Nami said with a shrug. "I'm not defending myself for other times, but _this_ one time I don't have anything to do with this asides from being the voice of reason since you two can't stop acting like three-year-olds."

"For fuck's sake!" Zoro groaned massaging his face and restraining murderous urges. This had to be a joke.

Sanji simply looked deflated and most likely feeling like crying out of frustration and out of how lame they both were.

"Okay, okay, let's all calm down, yeah?" Usopp intervened as he foresaw hell breaking loose the point one of the two truly snapped. "Let's do this: Nami will show you where the hotel is and Chopper will also come with you to check your wounds once you are there. We'll wait for you to be done and then we'll all go for dinner together somewhere in Terevera, yeah? How does it sound?"

"Great!" Luffy cheered as he started singing and dancing a weird as hell meat song, earning himself a punch from a certain redhead who didn't stand second hand embarrassment.

"Sounds like a plan," Robin chuckled as she nodded, mentally congratulating Usopp for his peace-making abilities.

"I need to check their wounds as soon as possible, so yes. We should head to the hotel now," a very worried Chopper agreed as he kept glancing at Sanji's back which he knew was in bad condition.

And neither Zoro nor Sanji got the chance to say anything else because they ended up being dragged towards what they knew was going to be hell.

* * *

Chopper had taken care of their wounds, but as soon as he had inspected Sanji's back he had ordered immediate rest.

"You need to lay down in bed and don't fucking move, your twists today only made it worse and depending on what you do it might become critical, so yeah, _rest_."

And Chopper didn't usually swear so Sanji deemed his order as compulsive or else. He knew his back was fucked, he didn't need Chopper to tell, but it still got him a bit more nervous since he knew it would make things more complicated the day after.

So he used it as an excuse to tell the others to go for dinner themselves as he stayed in and tried to rest, hoping that his back would thank him afterwards with a little bit of more cooperation, and especially hoping that he'd manage to fall asleep before Zoro came back so that they could avoid awkward situations.

And the crew knew it was weird for Sanji to actually obey and rest, but nobody commented on it, maybe sensing that he really needed it.

So he ordered room service and had dinner there on his own, relaxing on the many pillows he had stored behind his back as support, feeling his sore muscles relax after he had taken a shower and Chopper had wrapped him with clean bandages.

He had heard that the twins (who had obviously won as Nami had confirmed before) were also allocated in that same hotel, but they didn't get to see them. Better. He didn't want to see them. Especially not Aila. She was going to be a huge problem and he already knew it. He groaned at the thought, realizing just how fucked up tomorrow was going to be.

And, as every single time he got some alone time with his brain, his head started giving him shit about everything and anything, and the events of the day finally sunk in. The fact that Zoro and him had jerked each other off at midst of the fucking competition. The fact that it had all started with him getting a damn boner over the way Zoro was touching him when trying to tend to his wounds. The fact that as soon as Zoro had seen him freak out he hadn't chosen to leave but to stay and ultimately jump him, coaxing him into full hardness, he didn't yet understand why. He just didn't get Zoro's actions, he didn't understand what had been going through his head when taking the decisions he had. The fact that anger had taken the best out of him and some dark desire of bringing Zoro down with him in his humiliation had made him dare Zoro to finish what he had started instead of fleeing away from there, which he _should_ have done. The fact that Zoro hadn't hesitated when Sanji's words hit him, the fact that they had gone all out, all thoughts and reason thrown through the window until everything was over and their actions dawned on them.

But more than that, there was the fact that he had liked it.

He had fucking liked it. No, 'like' was an understatement. The way he kept replaying the memories in his head had him sporting a semi right now. No, 'like' wasn't it. He had felt one of the most intense orgasms of his life and he hardly remembered a time where he had been less collected than that. He had never let himself become a mess in situations like that, yet he had become an utter mess which couldn't think or process his actions but just act because, fuck, it had felt _so good_.

The only tiny insignificant problem was that it had been with none other than Zoro. Which made him want to cry in frustration and anger, because he didn't understand Zoro but he mostly didn't understand himself. He didn't understand how he had let it happen, because he sure as hell was capable of blocking the swordsman if he really wanted to. And either his brain cells had switched off or he clearly hadn't wanted to, because he had let it happen all the same, completely abandoning himself to the situation and to Zoro.

And now here they were. As fucked up as everything had been so far it only kept getting worse. He had once held the hope that everything would go back to normal, that they could ignore certain things he knew had to mean more than what they were giving them credit for, but it was impossible anymore. The more they tried to fix things up, the more they tried to keep everything together, the more it broke and crumbled around them, leaving them with nothing familiar to work with, leaving them bare and exposed to things they apparently couldn't control and didn't understand.

The lust had been there. And it had been a killing thirst that had taken over them. If he actually gave it some thought he would realize it had been there for a while. In all the tense situations between them up until now, if he looked at them now, he could clearly discern that subsiding element of lust, of want, of challenge, of a new kind of fight. And that frightened him because lust and Zoro had never been part of the same equation in his head, at least not consciously, but that was something he apparently didn't control anymore, and it felt dangerous.

And there were so many whys. Oh, so many. He didn't understand himself, but he had the feeling that he wouldn't unless he tried to understand where Zoro was coming from, even if the algae head had less reasoning ability than a plant.

They were both cornering each other the more days kept on passing. Each day they fell deeper into a spiral they didn't know how to stop.

Sanji told himself that maybe trying to seek answers could, in the end, help. He had been avoiding asking questions, he had been avoiding addressing the underlying issue going on in between all their problems, basically because it scared him shitless. Looking for answers as to why they had ended up where they had was scary and most likely a mindfuck. Something he was afraid to discuss with Zoro.

The swordsman had told him earlier that day that they'd have to talk about what they had done in the bathroom at some point later, and Sanji had outright said no, not when they were still shaken by it. But he knew Zoro was right, they needed to talk about it at some point. What had happened in the bathroom had been crossing a very thin line they should've never crossed, but they had, and now they had to figure out how to deal with it. Keeping everything to themselves and acting on their own had proved to be a failure so far as they had gotten on each other's nerves and made it worse, so he knew trying to figure it out together was at least worth giving a try. It could hardly end up worse than it had been going lately, so nothing to lose there.

But he knew that, once he started talking about it, he wouldn't leave it at that.

It wasn't the jerking off session that was the main problem here. There were more things going on between them, and that fucked them up. And he somehow needed to know where everything came from. He wasn't sure of how much he'd let himself press, though. Knowing him, even with his growing thirst for answers, he'd probably settle for something not too uncomfortable. Knowing himself he knew he'd probably settle for something that kept things stable for a while longer.

It didn't really mind how far he'd dare to get through asking, though, what really mattered is that he needed answers.

Which he wasn't going to find unless he asked.

And he had a pretty good idea of the only person he could ask about it all. The other person holding his own half of the mess they had made.

Sanji sighed and hid his face in between his hands. He knew the questions could wait a few days. He had originally wanted to delay it as much as possible, he had initially wanted to ignore it and keep it at bay for a while. And he knew it would be smarter to let themselves cool down a bit before asking. He knew it was especially dumb to try to address this before the match they'd have tomorrow.

But he also had come to the conclusion that he wasn't going to get any sleep that night unless he somehow found some closure to his hyperactive thoughts. He knew that either he voiced his thoughts out loud or they would eat him from the inside until he exploded.

And, as dumb and unadvisable as he knew it was, he decided on taking pity on himself and trying to help himself get some actual rest, which he very much needed.

He was looking for answers. And he would be getting them tonight, as soon as Zoro came back. One thing he was sure of was that he'd be awake when he did, no matter what time it was. He really couldn't sleep for saving his life.

So much for falling asleep before Zoro came back to avoid awkward situations. Funny how he went from wanting to avoid them at all costs to being ready to start them in the blink of an eye. Sanji was impulsive like this.

He still tried to convince himself that he wasn't scared of what Zoro or his own brain might answer.

**TBC**

* * *

**A/N: **hi there! Sorry again for the delay, can't promise to update as often as it's being really busy here, but I keep working on the chapters and trying to get them done, even if I am being slow (seriously sorry about that)! This is also why I'm not able to reply to comments since I often read them in a rush, but I read every one of them and they made me extremely happy! I am so SO glad you enjoyed the last chapter and the story in general, you can't even begin to imagine how much it motivated me and cheered me up! The response was better than expected (blushes) so I feel really grateful for that! Thank you for the support and the kind words, I'll keep working hard on this story!

I hope you all have a good week! Big big hug and lots of love to you all! :D


	27. Chapter 27 - A Little Chat

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**Chapter 27**

**A Little Chat**

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"We should probably get going. You too, Zoro."

Zoro sent an unpleasant look at Nami, who had decided enough is enough as she stood up from the table they had been sitting around for hours now, drinking ale after ale and joking around Strawhats' style.

To be fair, it was quite late already, and they did have a long way to get back to the Sunny. Zoro's hotel was just a few streets away, so it wasn't as inconvenient for him, but it was a bit more of a hassle for the rest, who really needed to get going if they wanted to catch some sleep at all.

It's just that Zoro didn't exactly fancy going back to the room he was forced to share with a certain blonde. Like, at all.

"It's still early, witch," he protested in an almost nonchalant manner, the way he would usually address the redhead.

"How is this early?" she countered with a roll of her eyes.

"I still want to party!" Luffy complained with a pout. Nami gave him a pointed look in return as she got a hold of his shirt and yanked at it to force him to get up.

"It's definitely over for you, you have already ransacked these people's kitchen. They'll plot your murder if you don't leave right about now," she scolded, deliberately ignoring Luffy's whines.

As much an exaggeration as that sounds like, the bartender was currently glaring at them with all his murderous intent gathered in that one look, probably praying for Luffy to go away and stop demanding their now non-existent food supplies. Strategic retreat was in order indeed.

Zoro felt the urge to pout (yes, pout) when the rest of his nakama started standing up as well, most of them looking either a bit tired or too tipsy. He really needed an excuse to stay longer. He didn't want to go back to that fucking room.

"Come on, Zoro, we'll get you to your hotel," Usopp offered, his nose a bit red due to having had a bit too much to drink.

The swordsman didn't know if he wanted to behead his friend for insinuating that they had to actively help him to get back so that he didn't get lost, or for him trying to get him back at all.

"I may stay for a bit longer, feel like having another super ale," Franky suddenly spoke up.

And Zoro swore he had become a believer just then as he saw God himself descend from heaven with a troupe of gospel angels singing Hallelujah, sunshine rays and all surrounding them.

Robin raised an eyebrow at Franky, who was still sat by Zoro's side, and when the others were about to say something in return, either to protest or to announce they'd join him, she smiled at the cyborg and interceded.

"Have fun, then, get Zoro back to the hotel when you are done since he seems like he could use a few more drinks for the night. Shall we all get going now?"

Zoro had never heard Robin talk as fast, nor had he ever seen her ushering anyone out, but that's exactly what she did as she flashed a smile he didn't like one bit to Franky.

"Have a good night," she wished them, falling behind the rest. "Try to get some sleep at least, Zoro."

Zoro frowned at her back, but the brunette left fast as lightning, prodding Nami to get out of the pub.

"So, bro, fancy another pint?"

Zoro's attention went back to Franky, both thanking his heavenly intervention and suspecting it.

"Sure," he carefully conceded.

"I'll pay for you, then."

Zoro frowned again but let it be. Who was he to refuse free ale as well as precious time away from Sanji?

* * *

"What was that about?" Nami asked, sending a look to Robin, who kept smiling.

"Men need to have a bit of a chat it seems," she vaguely answered.

"The only men who need to have a chat are Sanji and Zoro," Nami countered with a huff, not directed at Robin but at the two idiots she was talking about. "I swear to God, if Zoro doesn't go back to his damn room and sorts things out, I'll personally make his life hell. For how badass he claims to be he sure is chickening out of this one."

Robin chuckled, amused.

"Why do I feel like the whole 'forced to share a room together by the competition head board' thing is more of your liking than you let out?"

"Because it is," Nami shrugged. "I do promise that I didn't actively work for it to happen, and I swear I did take other things into account when saying yes for them, but they _do_ need to pull themselves together and fix whatever is going on between them, because I swear I am getting a headache with them constantly acting like oblivious idiots."

"And what exactly are they oblivious to?" Robin teased with a sly smile that Nami didn't ignore.

"Don't act like you didn't notice way before I did," Nami smirked.

And Robin smirked back.

"They could use a shared room, indeed," she simply conceded. "I don't think they realize how much they should be thanking your efforts, though."

"I never expected a thanks, anyway," Nami dismissed. "It's not for them, it's for my personal gain. Every time they act like idiots I get a migraine, and I am not exactly fond of headaches, you know."

Robin let out a small smile and lazily let her eyes wander to the sky with a thoughtful expression.

"Let's just hope this doesn't backfire."

* * *

"There you go, bro," Franky offered as he handed Zoro his drink.

Zoro didn't like the tone.

"Thanks… bro."

"So, what's the deal with Sanji?"

Hadn't Zoro been half expecting Franky to pull something like this, he would've probably choked on his ale.

"Nothing," he chewed, his voice half forced half edgy as he tried to get his 'leave me the fuck alone' point across.

"That's a blatant lie," Franky calmly retorted, giving him a side look that seemed quite unimpressed. "Now, you can lamely try to lie to your big bro, but I doubt you're really fooling yourself, are you."

"Nothing's wrong," Zoro curtly repeated, centering his attention on his ale. He should've seen this coming, and the fact that he hadn't pissed him off big time.

"Says the guy who is buying time with a couple of drinks in a shitty bar at shit o'clock at night in order to avoid spending time alone with Sanji."

"I'm not avoiding anything."

"Wrong. You've been avoiding, or at least trying to, anything Sanji-related for a while. So has he."

"This is none of your business, Franky," Zoro warningly growled.

"Taking into account the fact that you are both part of the team who has to provide us with the necessary funds to ever set sail again, I'd say it is."

Now, Zoro had barely anything to use against that. The 'nakama duties card' was one low but effective card to use. He blinked at his drink and looked back at Franky, who was giving him a pointed look.

And since he didn't seem to know what to answer, Franky continued.

"Since when has your relationship become as complicated as for you to avoid it like the plague? Doesn't exactly suit you."

"It has always been complicated, I don't get where you see the news here. And I'm not avoiding anything," Zoro defended again.

"No, Zoro, it has _never_ been complicated," Franky countered, slightly shaking his head.

Zoro glared hard at him, but didn't interrupt the cyborg as he had few to none decent retorts to offer.

"Unhealthy and a bit crazy, maybe, but asides from that, yours was one of the easiest relationships I've ever witnessed."

"Really now."

"You are both a challenge to each other and you both love challenges: so you both go out of your ways to piss the other off in order to get the other's attention and start a fight which you both crave."

Franky took another sip of his drink, his demeanor casual, but his tone was as serious and categorical as it could get.

"You claim you hate each other, but you'd take a bullet for the other. You both believe and claim you're better than the other but you keep forcing the other to prove you are not, just because you _need_ the challenge the other presents and you both wish it'd never stop being one," Franky kept listing.

Zoro's nose scrunched further the more Franky talked, words slowly leaving his brain in mutiny as he couldn't find any to work with anymore.

"It's as easy to read as that. I knew what you both were about the first time I saw you interact with each other, no genius brain cells needed, Zoro. It's as simple as both of you constantly wanting to get the other's attention in order to fight because fighting each other fulfills you and helps you get stronger. Or at least that's what you _were_ about. Now you just act like you need to step around something. Now you just try hard to appear like you are not avoiding whatever it is you are giving your back to," Franky concluded, his voice tougher yet not judging. "So, then again, when did it become like this, Zoro? I'm not even asking you _why_, that's something for you to ponder, but whatever it is, it's about time you both face it; it's been going on for too long and it's not getting any better by ignoring it."

"Why the fuck do you need to stick your nose into my shit?" Zoro snarled with a bit of delay as his brain both brushed Franky's words away and realized the truth in them at the same time. It's not like he had anything better to answer to that.

"You are both my nakama, I deeply care about you and I don't want to see you making the mistakes you are making by running away from whatever this is. Plus, you both need to collaborate in this competition and give your very best if you want to win against the twins and take the money home, which is in my personal interest as the man in charge of using that same money to repair the damn ship both of you helped to break, by the way," Franky elaborated, his tone hardening by the end of the sentence as a vivid image of them actively fucking up the mast in several of their fights replayed in the back of his head. "Plus, Nami is not happy with your attitudes, so it's actually in your best interests to try and make her happy by fixing that."

Zoro groaned. "Well, yes, I've noticed that last bit, but it's none of her business either."

"That's the bit you don't understand, my friend."

Zoro raised a skeptical eyebrow at Franky. This conversation was both awkward and uncomfortable and, in his very unbiased opinion, it was totally unnecessary for Franky to start. Apparently, though, the team 'let's make Zoro's life difficult' kept increasing in members by the day.

"I'm afraid I'm not following you now," he retorted with a tone that reminded Franky of a warning. "Which bit of 'it's none of y'all fucking business' did I miss? Please, do tell. Last time I checked I didn't have the right to meddle in your shit, did I? What gives you the right to meddle in mine?"

"This is why you don't get it. It's not about the 'why'," Franky responded faster than lightening, his expression and voice serene. Which was starting to piss Zoro off, because the swordsman was all but chill and serene right now, while the cyborg got to lecture him on shit while keeping a poker face. The world was not fair.

"Then what is this about, may you enlighten me?"

"Us."

Both his eyebrows shot up at the curt yet firm answer. Now he could see Franky coming. He wasn't done playing with the shitty nakama card, contrary to what he had thought. No, this whole conversation had been led with the nakama card under Franky's sleeve all along. Sly bastard. It kind of irked Zoro how his crew was starting to be familiar with what buttons to press in order to force him to react the way they wanted to or, as they liked to say and sugarcoat, 'nudge' him the right way.

"What do you mean 'us'?" He still tried to play dumb, his stance getting defensive as he knew what was coming without any way to stop it.

"Your nakama. This is not about why you are both going through a crisis or whatever it is that's going on between you. This is about how your shit is affecting all of us. You fighting each other all the time and almost ripping each other's head off is something we just need to tolerate for the crew to work. The only way it affects us is through broken stuff and maybe a few fun bets on you two, but that's about it," Franky charged, his pose still passive, his tone half condescending yet authoritative. "Now, with the way things have turned between you two, this is different. Your old fights didn't threaten to break your nakama bond while whatever is going on between you now is bound to do so if you don't do anything about it. I don't care about the reason why, but there has come a point where you can't trust yourselves around each other, and that's some serious and dangerous shit."

"That's-"

"Don't try to fight me on this, Zoro, you can't and it's something we can all see, whether we choose to comment it to you and act on it or pretend we haven't noticed," Franky cut him, his stare hardening on Zoro.

The swordsman swore he hated it when Franky went into his fatherly and manly rants and lectures. Especially when he was the recipient of his lecturing. Especially when Franky spoke nothing but truth.

"If it was only between you two, it'd suck and I'd be damn worried because I can't stand my bros having such a harsh time, but I wouldn't have the right to interfere. Sadly, Zoro, this is not the case. This crew is held together by the bond we all share. You may hate each other's guts, and that's alright as long as you keep your respect as nakama, but it all starts falling apart as soon as the bond is broken. And yours is at stake with the bratty way you are dealing with it: avoiding it, letting shit pile up only for it to get worse and worse the more time passes with you feigning you can ignore it, which can only end up badly."

Zoro watched unblinkingly as Franky had the nerve to pause his rant in order to take a chill sip of his pint, leaving the swordsman with no choice but to wait for him to resume as he had been left at lost for words.

"And this is now starting to affect us as well, Zoro, it's not only about you two anymore. It has been starting to affect the way you both fight, it's started to condition your actions around each other, and we can't have that. Just reflect on your matches today: you were struggling to give your 100%, it's not difficult to tell you had your minds elsewhere. You've almost been killed more times than usual, and you have both gotten badly hurt in battles you wouldn't have had this much trouble with on a normal basis."

"The cook was already hurt! Of course he wasn't in his best condition!" Zoro interrupted with a scowl and a border-line outraged tone.

If Franky noticed how unusual it was for Zoro to jump in Sanji's defense at the cyborg's words, he didn't let it show. The swordsman had barely registered the fact that he had done so and was starting to question himself when Franky spoke again, leaving his confused thoughts hanging.

"That's not the point here. You are the two main pillars in each of Luffy's sides in battle, which means you need to rely on each other just as much as Luffy relies on you for the team to work. And if you can't trust yourself around Sanji and instead have your actions conditioned by whatever it is that stands between you just because you keep tiptoeing around it instead of facing it, then the two main pillars of this crew can't work. And if you two can't work at your 120%, you drag the rest behind you. Which is the whole point of this conversation. I don't really care about the reason why your relationship has gone askew. Only thing I care about is the fact that this is going to end badly if one of you doesn't man up and approaches the problem in a way that doesn't involve running away from it or dancing around its edges."

"And you are suggesting _I_ should be the one to man up," Zoro snapped, fed up with the scolding. Franky looked unfazed as Zoro snarled at him, clearly pissed off. "Why is it always _me_ who has to fix things up? What about that bastard? You could have a chat with him as well, he's just as responsible as I am for this."

Which he knew was a lie. As much as they both accepted they had both been at fault feeding the crash of their relationship by constantly taking wrong decisions and only patching things up to keep it from completely crumbling, Zoro knew he had been the one to fuck up worse. After all, it had been him who had jumped at Sanji in the bathroom, it had been him who had run away the most, even if Sanji also had. But he was tired of always taking the blame, he really was.

"Is this Roronoa Zoro running away from his problems I see? Just when I thought I had seen everything there was to see," Franky commented with a mock surprised face.

"Fuck off."

"I am talking to you because it's you who's here. I can hardly communicate my message to Sanji through smoke signals, can I?" Franky answered, a bit more serious.

"Again, fuck off."

"And on this friendly note, we shall end the night and you shall get to the hotel," Franky concluded, slamming his now empty glass on the table with a satisfied sigh. He did love that particular ale they had in that pub. "You need to get some sleep and you need to stop hiding in a pub like a coward. Act like an adult and go to that room, bro, this is not your style at all."

"_This conversation_ is not my style," Zoro corrected with a groan.

"Come on Zoro, be a big boy, finish that pint and get your ass off this chair, we need to get going," Franky prodded, ignoring Zoro's protests.

He really didn't want to go back. As much as he had been the one to suggest that they should probably talk about what had happened back in that bathroom, now he definitely didn't feel like it. The more time that passed after that fatal moment, the worse an idea it seemed. Plus, Sanji had made it crystal clear that he didn't want to discuss that anytime soon. The conversation Franky was 'encouraging' him to have 'for the sake of the crew' had as much future as Zoro's sense of direction.

But he did need to get to the hotel, at least. Else Nami would have his head for breakfast. With a bit of luck Sanji would already be sleeping and he wouldn't have to face him until morning, when they'd be too busy getting ready for the damn match to approach the subject. So he gulped what was left of his drink and harshly stood up, glaring hatefully at Franky all along because, really, the nakama card had been a fucking low blow.

"Let's go, bro," Franky smiled, standing up as well and proceeding to guide Zoro along streets he didn't remember walking through until they stood in front of an entrance that kind of looked familiar to Zoro, which he discovered was the hotel's one. He remembered it being somewhere else, though. Weird. Cities these days seemed to constantly move.

"Get some rest, you'll need it," Franky recommended as he patted his back comfortingly. Zoro wasn't too happy with the way Franky played good guy after having shittily assaulted him minutes before, but he could hardly do anything but keep glaring. "And, really, do yourselves a favour and man up. Whatever it is you're dealing with, it would've probably gone much better had you addressed it when you should've instead of letting it drag for this long. Now, don't give yourself much of a headache and do your best. And sleep. Sleep is important, whatever you do tonight, yeah?"

"The fuck are you talking about?"

"Good night, bro! See you tomorrow! Good luck with your match, we'll be cheering for our super nakama!"

And with that Franky left faster than lightning and Zoro found himself standing alone in the street, the twinkling lights coming from the buildings around playing with slight shadows and colors on his scowling face.

His gaze slowly peeled from the place he had last seen Franky and dreadfully set on the rich wooden doors of the fancy hotel they had been placed in.

Why the fuck would the directors of the damn competition halt the matches and drag the final to the next day? It just made his life complicated. And why the fuck had they offered them staying in the fucking hotel in the same fucking room? And why the hell did manners have to exist, dammit? Although he had a feeling that, even if Nami hadn't felt compelled to accept in order not to offend those important people, she would've set them up anyways. He was pretty sure that witch lived to make his life hell, and he had the suspicion that she got some kind of weird personal satisfaction from seeing him suffer.

* * *

"So?"

Franky wasn't surprised to see Robin waiting for him on deck when he got back to the ship. She looked curious, her expression a bit unsettling under the moonlight, but not less beautiful.

Franky grinned a bit.

"Had a friendly chat with him."

"So you played bad cop?" Robin concluded with a knowing chuckle. Franky came to stand by her side and shrugged, his grin bigger and a bit cheekier.

"Could've tried to act like the good Samaritan I am, but I doubt it would've worked with Zoro," he commented.

"I know, he does need a hard push sometimes," Robin smiled.

"I think he truly hates me now," Franky guffawed as they started making their way to the galley.

"Feel like having a drink?" Robbin offered, to which Franky nodded eagerly. A drink always sounded good. Plus, he'd get some good gossip time (which he'd never admit he actually liked out loud), so he was all for it.

"Do you think they'll sort things out?" he wondered out loud as he rummaged in the pantry in search of a good liquor they could share.

Robin shrugged, which Franky didn't see as he was giving her his back. "It can either go well or really bad, but they do need to talk, so don't worry too much, your intervention was needed indeed."

"Thought Nami would welcome some help. She's been going out of her way to force them to fix things up and she's losing her patience, so I thought I'd spare her some effort by bugging those two a bit, see what they do," Franky grinned as he sat down in front of Robin and opened the bottle he had finally chosen.

Robin merely chuckled in response, visibly amused by all of her nakama's actions. She gracefully accepted a glass of wine and they both sunk into comfortable silence for a while.

Robin knew Franky wanted to say something, she could usually tell these things, but she waited until he decided to speak.

"Do you have any clue what their problem is, though? I believe it has been going on since we were in The Rock, which I'll admit was a pretty shitty time emotionally speaking, especially for Sanji, but I don't see the reason why it all went crushing down. There was that massive fight between them, but… I don't know, I know it was bad but I find it hard to believe their relationship would turn this bitter just because of a fight. Luffy and Usopp fought pretty badly once and I can't see them holding grudges or avoiding shit around each other."

Franky gave Robin a questioning look by the end of his ponderings, and he found her smiling back at him. It was the kind of smile that told him that Robin knew something he didn't, something that amused her big time.

"Oh, you do know."

Robin's smile grew at this words. "I have a few suspicions but I'd rather keep them to myself. I'll keep you updated if any of them turn out to be true."

Franky shook his head, knowing full well he wouldn't get anything else from her. Robin usually knew a lot of things nobody else knew, and she liked to keep it that way. Knowledge was as much a weapon as anything else and Robin was keen on keeping it to herself.

Franky did have a few theories as well, but they were too risky and even hard to believe to put into words if he didn't want to lose his life in those two idiots' hands, so he told himself he'd take Robin's clever approach and keep his suspicions to himself.

"Thanks for your collaboration, anyways," she spoke up a few minutes later as they downed the last drops in their glasses. "Nami will definitely be happy that someone else is taking this seriously."

Franky flashed her a smile and nodded in recognition, then grabbed the half full bottle and shook it in the air with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

"Round two?"

* * *

After a good half an hour of staring and pacing around with the strong urge to flee, Zoro told himself that Franky was right, that he couldn't act like that much of a coward. He had quickly decided he wouldn't be addressing their problems tonight (plus Sanji would already be asleep, and who was him to wake the blonde up to _talk_, ew), nor would he be doing so in a while, at least until things had calmed down a bit and they had both gotten some time away from each other to think about how much of a mess this had become and how they could possibly fix it. But at least he should gather the decency to cross that fucking door, walk up the fucking stairs and sleep in his damn bed, which was a good few feet away from Sanji's anyways. He wouldn't exactly be able to defend he wasn't a coward if he didn't at least do that. It was just sharing a room, Sanji wouldn't even know he had come back.

So he mustered some courage he had never needed to actively gather, sighed deep and made his way to his room. He introduced the keys as silently as he could in the lock and made them rotate the right way until he heard a faint 'click'. If he was quiet enough he wouldn't wake Sanji up and he'd safely make his way into his own sheets, hopefully falling asleep and getting his mind off his problems for a few hours.

His breath caught when he saw that the bedside table's dim lamp was switched on. He felt himself relax when he saw Sanji lying in bed, his back facing him as he seemed to be half hugging himself in his sleep. He looked restless, but at least he did seem asleep, so he tiptoed around the room towards his bed, hoping with everything he had that the blonde wouldn't wake up.

He had just gotten a knee on his mattress, ready to drag the rest of his body in a lying position and hibernate, when he heard shuffling sounds behind him.

"What are we doing, Zoro?"

Zoro's heart came to a halt as soon as Sanji's voice reached his ears. He brusquely turned around, his eye open in slight surprise as he felt himself starting to freak out. Sanji was now in a sitting position, back against the wall as he faced him with a scarily weary expression that made him doubt the blonde had gotten any sleep at all after all.

So much for hoping.

**TBC**

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**A/N: **Hi there, my lovely readers! :)

This chapter is a bit shorter, but there's a reason why! It was meant to be part of a bigger chapter, but as I kept writing it just kept growing on me and it ended up being muuuch longer than I had planned. As it was way too long I decided to cut what was meant to be a single chapter in half, making two of them, so that's why this bit is a bit shorter, but I still hope you like it. I know you guys were expecting their chat (and maybe something else as I read in some of your comments, you cheeky lovely readers ;)) but if you have some patience and wait a little bit longer it will get there (they _do_ need the chat omg). The second half isn't finished yet, but I am working on it and will hopefully be ready as a new chapter not too late (hopefully)!

So, yes, I reaaally hope you are enjoying this story and, again, I want to thank you for all your nice and constructive comments, they help a lot and they make me smile! Big hug to everyone! Have a nice week!


	28. Chapter 28 - Just Let Go

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**Chapter 28**

**Just Let Go**

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"What are we doing, Zoro?"

Sanji's voice came out weary and raspy. He was probably sleepy. Or maybe he was just tired of it all.

Zoro frowned and shut his eyes. He just wanted to sleep. He had gone out until this late for a reason. He really didn't feel like having this conversation right now. Never mind Franky's scolding session and advice.

"Trying to sleep," he growled in an annoyed tone.

"We all know you are an idiot, moss head, you don't need to prove it with everything you say," Sanji snapped, making Zoro scowl. He didn't appreciate Sanji's attempt to lighten the mood with his shitty biting jokes. Not when it only preceded a tough and direct, "You know exactly what I mean."

Zoro sighed. He vaguely wondered why he hadn't camped under a bridge for the night.

"Do we really have to do this now?"

He had resorted to lying down in bed and giving his back to Sanji. Which was starting to annoy the blonde.

"Friendly reminder that you were the one who said we'd have to talk about it later, bastard," Sanji spat, his tone more condescending than Zoro would've liked it. He could tell Sanji was pissed, but either he was too sleepy to start a full-on argument or he was taking a hold of all the patience he had left to make this run as smoothly as desirably possible.

"Friendly reminder that you were the one who said we wouldn't," Zoro counterattacked, his eyes still closed in an attempt to fall asleep right there and then and maybe spare himself 'the talk' Sanji had decided was opportune to have right now.

Sanji scowled. Deep. This is why things were difficult. When one stepped up, the other backed down. And even if he knew he had been the first to refuse, he had done so barely few minutes after jerking the bastard off which, excuse him, wasn't part of his daily routine nor something he could easily come to terms with or be nonchalant about. He had calmed down now, though, or so he had tried during the endless hours of sleep avoiding him like the plague. And he needed to find answers, else he knew he wouldn't be finding rest in a long, long while.

"Well, guess what, we are talking about it right now. Pull yourself together and stop making things difficult for once."

Oh, was Zoro pissed. Sanji knew he had burned the swordsman's patience down in one strike when the other finally snapped and turned to glare at him. Well, that was better than nothing. At least he was reacting now.

"You have some fucking nerve telling me that, as if you've made things any easy so far," Zoro growled, glowering daggers at him for good measure. "And why the fuck do we always have to do shit when _you_ want to?"

"Because I tend to pick more convenient times than you do," Sanji stated flatly, as if it was an obvious answer.

"Oh, sure, because right now, when I am about to fall asleep face first on my pillow and you look like shit after being sleep-deprived for more than a day, is the most idyllic time you could've chosen!"

"It's certainly better than after we jacked each other off and I wanted to rip your head off your shoulders, or during the fucking tournament when we had to fucking _focus_."

Wow, that had been harsh and deafeningly direct. Zoro glared harder. Sanji really drove him up the wall. He had the special ability to be the most irritating bastard he had ever met. He was cornering him right now, because they both knew that once they started addressing the problem at hand there was no stopping it. But then again, he had been cornering Sanji just as much lately. Back in The Rock he hadn't given Sanji any other option than to face his problems, and he had even gotten physical about it, not giving a fuck about what Sanji felt like doing. Back in the bathroom the day before, he had forced him to face the issue at hand with disastrous consequences, he hadn't really given Sanji a choice until he had put things into motion and Sanji had been left with the only options to either leave it at that with half of the damage already done or continue. Now Sanji was doing the same, just that he kept it verbal.

They hadn't been fair to each other, really. They both acted on impulse, doing whatever suited them or their urges best, cornering the other and forcing him to face shit when they didn't feel ready to do so. They were selfish that way. That may be why this was going so bad.

Suddenly, Sanji's initial question made sense in Zoro's brain.

'_What are we doing_?'

And, really, what were they doing? This situation was unhealthy and toxic as fuck, or maybe it was just the way they were handling it. Zoro knew they needed to address this before it got out of hand, before they fucked up further. It just pissed him off that they had to do it when and only when King Blackleg wanted to.

Franky's words reverberated in his head as all the excuses he had once thought were good vanished, merely leaving him with angry frustration because, really, he hated it when other people were right and he wasn't.

"Okay, we are talking now," he huffed.

Sanji was slightly taken aback by the sudden agreement. He had been expecting Zoro to be a dense brick about this, so he had already been thinking of a comeback for the next refusal he threw at him. He quickly closed his mouth and stared at the floor, feeling suddenly nervous about the whole thing. He worked and talked better under pressure. Zoro making things 'easy' for him didn't exactly belong to the list of things he was used to, after all. He sighed, suddenly feeling awkward as fuck about the fact that they were talking it out like civilized adults, no yelling or beating around the bush. It's what he had been looking for, but he was inevitably out of his element, so it took him a few minutes to decide on what to say next since Zoro didn't look as if he was planning on starting the much needed conversation himself. Lazy bastard.

"How have we gotten here?" Sanji ended up deciding for, his tone quiet, lacking the force it initially had when he had planned on _demanding _answers instead of asking for them. It was a vague enough question, but it was just as direct.

Zoro didn't answer at first. Sanji forced himself to look up at the laying swordsman, already annoyed at the fact that the other might be ignoring him or worse, had already fallen asleep. But he quickly kept his threats to himself when he saw Zoro's reflective expression with his eye fixed on the floor. Sanji patiently waited for the other to organize his thoughts, half apprehensive of what he would come up with.

Zoro ended up sighing. Sanji had the feeling that they would end up sighing a lot that night.

"I don't know," he muttered, still not looking at Sanji. He sighed again and rubbed his hands over his face, trying to calm himself down, but he was mostly frustrated at his own answer. "I honestly don't know. It just got out of hand."

Sanji frowned. Well, that wasn't helpful. But he could hardly complain taking into account that he had no clue either. He had been stupidly hoping that Zoro would come up with a better explanation than himself, but it had obviously been wishful thinking from the start.

He found Zoro looking up at him, his facial features unusually relaxed. He could read the anxiousness and awkwardness in his eyes, he could read that he was afraid and unsure about pretty much everything, and he just _knew_ this conversation was pissing him off, but his usual scowl had disappeared in exchange for a questioning stare and a reflective expression. The fact that Zoro was making an actual effort to humor Sanji made him prod even more. And the next question in his list, albeit awkward as fuck and something he knew would make them both want to be swallowed by a black hole right there and then, was far more concrete and unsettling, especially for Zoro. He thought of how to word it so that he wouldn't freak him out too much (wasn't he considerate), and he swore he got a headache as he ran a nervous hand through his golden locks.

"Okay, so… uhm… why did you do that?"

Well, that had come out vague as hell. But he also knew there weren't that many possibilities as to what 'that' meant, so he refrained himself from elaborating further in favour of sparing them some unnecessary embarrassment. He looked up only to see Zoro staring at him with a suspicious look.

"Do what?"

Okay, he had been vague, but there was no way Zoro was _that _dense. He must've known what Sanji was asking. There was _no way_ he didn't know. He was just trying to avoid the question, the sneaky bastard. And since Zoro was playing dumb and was back to being unhelpful and Sanji didn't know how else to go about it, Sanji threw delicacy out of the window. Either they both made it easier or none of them did; he wasn't going to make extra efforts for both.

"Grab my cock and squeeze the life out of it out of the blue? Rings a bell?"

And he swore he hated himself for this, because he was also utterly embarrassed himself, but the look in Zoro's face and the way he choked made it worth it. It wasn't often that he saw the swordsman blushing, but he sure as hell was right now, his face red as a tomato as he first looked at Sanji in disbelief, then in outrage, and then in plain fury and embarrassment.

"What the actual fuck!"

"That was my exact thought when you did just that, bastard," Sanji huffed, trying to keep his own embarrassment at bay, because he also felt like hiding his face behind a pillow, just as Zoro was doing just then. "Stop playing prude, you sure as fuck don't have the right to after the shit you pulled yesterday."

"You are a fucking prick, you didn't need to put it like that!" Zoro barked, barely lifting his head from the safety of his pillow to glare hard at him. He swore the only way to find some closure after that was either him murdering the cook or him throwing himself of a cliff. Or both. "Do you actually want to talk things out or are you just going out of your way to piss me off big time, bastard?"

"Next time I ask you a question don't play dumb, then," Sanji shot back. "This is supposed to be a serious conversation, if I ask you a question, you answer straight away and so do I, don't make it seem like you don't know what I am talking about because the topic is pretty much crystal clear here."

Zoro groaned against the fabric of the pillow, wishing for it to engulf him. Oh, how he hated this talk. To think that he had been the one to point out that they'd need to talk about this the day before made him want to assassinate his yesterday self. Why couldn't they want things at the same time? Why the hell did Sanji have to pull this shit _right now_, when it was the last thing Zoro wanted to do?

"What the fuck do you want me to say?" he growled. Okay, he knew this question was coming one way or another if they addressed the fact that they had jerked each other off, especially because Sanji wouldn't miss the opportunity to point out that it had been him who had started all this mess and that Sanji was the victim there, but he really dreaded it with everything he had.

"I think it's a pretty fair question Zoro, I sure as hell don't know what the fuck was going on inside your head when you did it, and taking into account that it was my fucking dick that you decided to get a hold of, I believe I deserve an explanation as to why, at the_ very _least!"

"Okay, okay, calm the fuck down, I get it, damn it!" Zoro snapped as he glared again to make Sanji shut up once and for all, because he swore the more he talked the more he made it a torture for Zoro.

Sanji was right; it was a fair question, as humiliating as it was for him to have to face it, because the other had all the right in the world to ask it. It's just… it's just that he hadn't been able to find an answer when he had previously asked this same question to himself several times now. And he still couldn't.

"I just… I just don't know, Sanji, I am fucking sorry okay, I can't answer because I don't have a clue, that's all I can say," he finally forced himself to blurt out, unable to look at the blonde in the eye. Oh, man, he remembered having something called 'pride' at some point in the past. Apparently it had burned to ashes.

"What do you mean _you don't know_?" and Sanji was trying to keep it civilized and have patience, because he had known it wouldn't be an easy conversation to have, but he couldn't completely erase the angry and accusing tone from his otherwise half-controlled voice.

"Cook, don't push it," Zoro warned, already fed up with the interrogation, turning his back to Sanji again as if to show him just how done he was with that little chat they had going on.

"_Don't push it_?" Sanji repeated in outrage. The damn swordsman had some nerve. "Are you trying to tell me that you have just gone and randomly grabbed a dude's-no, not a dude's, _my_ dick, out of _all_ the ones you could've chosen, out of the blue and you haven't even been _trying_ to reason it out afterwards? Zoro, do you hear yourself? Do you even care _at all_?"

Just as he had found a comfortable position with his back to the cook, Zoro found himself harshly jumping in bed and spinning around, now half sat and fully facing Sanji again.

"I am fucking _freaking out_, how's that not caring!" he snapped, his voice coming out as an angry yell.

Sanji was mildly surprised by the extreme reaction he had gotten, but he didn't blink or shrink, he just glared harder.

"Exactly. That's the only thing you are doing," he wearily groaned. "You start shit, and when it backfires you freak out and try to shrug responsibilities off under the pretext that 'you don't know'."

Well, that was harsh. But straight to the point. Sanji had that sometimes. And Zoro was also like this, just that he wasn't demonstrating it lately. The swordsman felt the urge to frown at himself, suddenly realizing that Sanji was mostly right. He sighed and properly sat down, legs crossed, as he massaged his face again in an attempt to relax and avoid a mental breakdown. Wasn't he becoming a drama queen.

"Look, I… I don't know, I know it's lame but… but I can't begin to understand me myself. I just… I guess I… fuck, this is _awkward_."

"We have all night, and I can assure you awkwardness is the last of our problems," Sanji cut in, his tone a bit more patient but not a bit lenient. And it really was the last of their problems, even if it was also taking a toll on him. But he had made and adult decision to push it and get things out and clear between them, which he knew was for the better, so he forced himself to stick to it and push it even when he felt like letting it go, just as Zoro was surely hoping he'd do. They'd have to face it sooner or later anyways, and next time it might be Sanji who had a problem with it, so he might as well press now that he was determined to do so. There was most likely not going to be a perfect moment where they were _both_ cool with this talk happening, so he might as well go for it now that he was.

Zoro ended up with his face between his hands, almost resting it in them as his shoulders fell. It was a weird sight, Sanji had to admit. It wasn't that many times that he had seen Zoro helpless like that.

"I think… I think I was just thinking of getting your attention on me, I… I saw you freak out, and I got pissed off because you were about to make a drama out of a stupid thing and I… I don't know, I wanted to make you understand it was fine or something, I don't even know, shit. I was hoping it would make it go away, prove that it hadn't happened because of me or something-I just… I acted out of impulse, you know how I do stupid things out of instinct sometimes…-"

"Oh, you do, believe me,_ I_ would know."

Zoro lifted his gaze as a warning, pissed off that he had been interrupted when he was clearly struggling to express himself just as Sanji fucking _wanted_. Sanji raised his eyebrows at the sudden threatening glare and made a gesture as to show he'd shut his mouth until Zoro finished talking.

But now Zoro was pissed off and far less willing to elaborate, so he ended with a curt, "I basically did something stupid without thinking and it got out of hand, guess I kind of thought it was a good idea back then. It clearly wasn't. Satisfied?"

Sanji sighed. He should learn to control his big mouth. Now that's as much as he was getting out of the greenhead, and it was his own fault for teasing him.

"Not really. You basically elaborated how you just don't know, nothing new or particularly helpful. At least you've been giving it some thought, though," he shrugged. And stopped pushing on that question because he'd only end up making this conversation crash. It's not as if it was going to change anything. A good explanation would've been nice and it may have helped him understand the course of the events that were currently haunting him better, but at some point he'd have to accept it had just happened, and there wasn't much he could do about that no matter how many good reasons Zoro could give him.

Zoro loudly huffed, as in to say 'finally', and let himself plop back onto bed, his gaze on the ceiling. He knew Sanji was looking at him, and he could almost hear his brain gears working to conjure another question. Of course the talk hadn't ended here.

When the question finally came, it surprised Zoro.

"Why did you care?"

The greenhead raised an eyebrow. "When?"

"In The Rock."

Zoro closed his eyes. This question wasn't as outrageous as the other, but it felt far more personal, which made him anxious for a moment. When he had agreed to have this conversation he thought it would revolve around the fact that they had gotten each other off, maybe a few accusations from Sanji, some kind of sexuality reaffirmation of how straight they both were and a verbal contract as to how things had to go back to normal. Even if they both knew there was no 'normal' to go back to. The talk leading to them contemplating the whole evolution of their relationship had always been a possibility, but Zoro had honestly believed they would both avoid that unsteady ground, especially with how they had been actively trying to ignore it so far.

Sanji's first question should have been enough of a warning that he wasn't intending on leaving the big picture out of the discussion, though.

'_What are we doing?'_

But, as much as it painfully twisted something inside him, something he knew felt scarily personal, the answer came out on its own with just a few seconds delay.

"I thought we were losing you."

Sanji stared at him, and if Zoro had stared back he would've probably felt overwhelmed by the intensity of the blonde's look.

"I was fine."

Zoro registered Sanji's tone as unusually soft and quiet.

"It felt like I didn't know you at all at some points, and there were times when I couldn't even recognize you," Zoro replied. "It pissed me off."

Sanji let out a soft smile. He couldn't help it, it just came out as naturally as Zoro's answers this time. He was surprised Zoro hadn't made more of a fuss about this one. He saw the swordsman twisting his fingers which laid on his stomach, a very rare nervous gesture for him to do, which meant he _really_ felt anxious about this particular question, as calm as he had sounded. But he had still answered straightforwardly and rather naturally, which meant he was certain about this one response.

"I wouldn't say I cared though, it's more like I was pissed off that I had to babysit you," Zoro quickly added.

"Oi!"

Sanji saw a small smirk tug at Zoro's lips and he visibly relaxed a bit.

"The only one who needs babysitting is you," Sanji growled in annoyance, more out of habit than anything else. He knew what Zoro had just said was a blatant lie.

But it was convenient for both of them, so he let it be.

There was a long silence during which Sanji forced himself to get rid of the small gut twist Zoro's latest answer had provoked in him and went back to pondering how to continue, what to say next. They hadn't yet properly assaulted the fact that, yes, they had jerked each other off and that said fact marked a 'before' and 'after' in their relationship, but he told himself that he could hardly start with a casual 'so, about our little jerking-off session, what are your thoughts on it and how do you deem it will affect our interactions from now on?'.

Just as his brain was starting to appear as blatantly unhelpful in the articulate department, Sanji was dragged out of his musings as Zoro spoke up, which left him slightly wide eyed as he didn't expect any active effort coming from the swordsman. He had assumed he'd have to do all the prodding. He was wrong.

"Why did you tell me to continue?"

Sanji deadpanned. His turn to suffer, apparently.

"Basically, yeah, I must have done something terrible in my past life, so karma stepped in and instigated my brain cells to commit mutiny, which they did, leading to a complete shutdown of my brain, which disabled my decision-making capacity-"

"Cut the crap, bastard, or I swear I am ripping your head off your shoulders after how much shit you've been giving m-"

"I was pissed off," Sanji cut in, now serious. "You messed with me when I was explicitly telling you to stop. You didn't have to interfere but you just went ahead, only God knows why, and cornered me when I was having a breakdown. Then you saw heavenly light and thought it was a good idea to go ahead and grab me. You fucking made it worse, you embarrassed me to no end, put me to shame, and when you had taken me apart you stopped and decided it was a good moment to flee."

Zoro blinked at him. The utter amount of sincerity Sanji was pouring into his rant was almost overwhelming. And it was making him feel like shit. He hadn't seen it this way at that moment. He had thought, at some point in the back of his mind, that he was helping. Maybe.

"I was pissed off, Zoro," Sanji repeated, blunt as he had ever been. "I wanted to take you down with me. I was already down, and it was your fault, so I took revenge. Simple as that. I wasn't about to let you mess me up and walk away as if nothing happened. If I fall and it's your fault, you sure as hell are coming down with me, as dramatic as it sounds."

And out of how shitty that statement had made him feel for how clueless he had been, out of how Sanji had just admitted to act in the name of revenge and bitterness, out of everything the blonde had just blurted out, Zoro got fixed with only one thing.

"So you knew what you were doing?"

Sanji looked at him as if he was stupid.

"Unlike others, yes, I did. Disconnecting my brain is not my style. I tend to be aware of the decisions I make," he responded with a huff. He didn't mention the fact that he had let himself function on autopilot, knowing full well what he was doing but shutting his brain down all the while, setting it aside to take a mere observer role as his body did what it felt like doing.

"_I _knew what I was doing, it's just that I don't know why I-" Zoro started to protest. But Sanji cut in yet again.

"Whatever. Yes, I knew what I was doing, I knew the consequences and I didn't give a fuck at that moment because I was pissed off, simple as that."

Zoro gave him a look he didn't like one bit. "That's a fucking stupid reason, why would you give yourself this much trouble just for revenge?"

"Oi, it's better than having no reason at all, bastard!" Sanji defended, suddenly irked at the fact that Zoro had just gone and dismissed his explanation like that. He felt more than justified. Zoro had fucked up big time assuming he could start shit with him and just walk away when it suited him. Sanji had simply taught him that he couldn't. "Plus, what about an apology, dickhead? I don't know if anything I said registered in your non-existent brain, but you fucking messed up and would've left me to handle the aftermath of your shit decision-making by myself hadn't I fucking dotted the i's and crossed the t's there, excuse you."

Zoro vaguely remembered he actually felt sorry for that and that he should probably apologize because, yes, he had been a prick, but there was this other question in his head weighting more than anything else. Because something inside him was apprehensive of what the answer might be. If it was a 'yes', he knew the half disappointed knot he had in his stomach would turn into a full-on one.

"Did you really do it only out of revenge?"

Sanji's expression went from pissed off to deadpanning in the blink of an eye, and Zoro almost felt stupid with the way he looked at him.

"Mainly," Sanji stated. "But maybe you didn't notice the boner poking in my pants and the fact that you had been fucking petting it to adulthood all along."

_Petting it to adulthood all along_.

Zoro choked on his own saliva. He swore he couldn't have this kind of conversations with Sanji; he always managed to find the right words to make Zoro wish he was deaf. The bastard had no shame sometimes. Wasn't it easier and less embarrassing for both to say 'I was horny as fuck and needed release'? Which is what Sanji had basically meant. As embarrassing as that way of putting it already was, it was still one million times better than 'petting it to adulthood', for fuck's sake, how did he even come up with that?!

But, even through his mental rant on how much of an idiot Sanji was, he felt weirdly relieved.

"Why did _you_ continue when I told you to?"

Zoro recomposed himself and looked at Sanji with a weary expression. There were a lot of 'whys'. Zoro didn't like 'whys'. He didn't usually have an answer for them.

"I don't know."

"You don't know," Sanji boredly repeated, judging stare in place.

It pissed Zoro off.

"I was fucking horny, I had a lot of bottled up stress to relieve, I had started something I didn't have a clue how to properly stop and my brain disconnected, end off. Want me to elaborate further?" he barked.

"So it was a matter of releasing tension," Sanji bluntly stated. And Zoro had to feel confused at how Sanji managed to go from 'annoying fuck' to his serious 'down-to-business' self in half a second.

Zoro had to stop himself from mentally cursing Sanji in order to process his new attitude. He swore he couldn't keep up with Sanji's mood swings. Sanji was like a fucking roller-coaster, and as much as Zoro was good at handling him and adapting to his up-and-downs, even _he_ fell behind sometimes, and when he did that, he almost felt physically out of breath and exhausted. He blinked a few times, registering Sanji's serious statement and making an effort to focus on that instead of his former prick attitude. Was it a matter of releasing pent-up tension?

"Yes, at that point it was, yes. It had escalated enough as to explode," he found himself admitting.

Sanji didn't miss the subconscious 'at that point'. As in excluding his initial move, the one that had set everything into motion. Which only confirmed that Zoro didn't know how in hell he had ended up starting that mess.

Sanji sighed.

If he set aside the bugging doubt of what had brought Zoro to act the way he did at the very beginning, which he knew he wouldn't find the answer for, that last explanation had managed to make him feel… relieved?

It was quite simple. Both him and Zoro were extreme, both him and Zoro were impulsive, and both him and Zoro had been at their boiling point when Zoro had received inspiration from hell to make the exact wrong move. Then shit happened. End off. It didn't make the consequences less relevant nor inexistent, they had still fucked up and they still had the resulting aftermath to deal with, but it somehow made it a bit less confusing.

"So it was a matter of releasing tension," he absently repeated to himself.

"I am actually surprised you are taking it this well," Zoro suddenly said, making Sanji look at him interrogatingly.

"What part of my reactions counts as 'taking it well'?"

He had been freaking out. He had been losing sleep over it. He had been panicking and burning his brain cells to alternatively find ways to escape and ways to face it. He had been a fucking mess all along. He had remained composed and collected on the outside, but that's about it.

"I mean, you jerked off _a guy_," Zoro carefully clarified, measuring his words. He was surprised at himself for speaking his thoughts out loud like this when he usually didn't unless he was coerced to or the situation really asked for it, which it didn't anymore, but he just found himself talking.

Sanji stared at him unblinkingly and Zoro wondered if he had understood.

"A guy. A man. A human being with a dick in between his legs. Just like yours. Someone of your same sex. Last time I checked you were straight and claiming your undying love for women to the seven seas."

Sanji finally blinked at him, his expression barely changing.

"Do you _really_ think _that_'s the problem here?"

It was Zoro's turn to blink.

Now he was, at the very least, shocked. He hadn't been expecting that reaction, much less with it coming out this naturally.

"Well, with how much you nurse your manliness and whatnot I _did_ think that'd be an issue for you, yes," he reasoned, his expression confused.

"So you _do_ think that's the problem," Sanji deadpanned, but something in his tone told Zoro he was considerably pissed off. Again.

"I-"

"To be honest, Zoro, the last fucking problem I currently have is the fact that you're a _man,_" Sanji snapped. "I'm more worried about the fact that, _I don't know_, you're my nakama, my rival, fucking _you_?"

Oh, well, Sanji hadn't forgotten to bring his sass along with him tonight.

"If you honestly think the issue is you being a man, then you don't understand shit," Sanji growled, because, really. He had been pulverizing his brain cells all along for Zoro to merely consider the fact that Sanji may have an issue with them being both men.

He had indeed questioned his sexuality once he admitted to himself that he had enjoyed their encounter, he had been confused, he had mulled over the fact that he still _clearly_ preferred women over _everything_ else, he had been struggling with the idea that he had jerked off a guy, but all those thoughts vanished as soon as he identified said guy with Zoro. As soon as his name brought with it all the past events going on between them, making his life more complicated than it had ever been. As soon as he realized that they had fucked up because, not only this was getting out of hand and fucking with them, it was also going to affect the crew sooner or later if they didn't pull their shit together. As soon as his brain tried to understand the many whys in the equation. Any of those thoughts made the fact that Zoro was a man _almost_ unimportant the moment they came to mind. And Zoro had reduced everything to nothing when assuming Sanji's problem would lay in the fact that what they had done could be very much considered gay. Not that he had properly come to terms with it; it still sounded surreal in his head and, had the circumstances been different, he would've properly freaked out like the drama queen he was, but, as has been said, he had way too many other _important_ problems to deal with in the privacy of his head.

"I do understand shit!" Zoro countered with a frown. "It's just that I honestly thought you'd make more of drama out of this, that's it."

"I have way too many problems at hand as to consider that one of them anymore," Sanji huffed, pointedly glaring at Zoro in order to convey how stupid he thought he was. "I'm not exactly happy with it either, but out of all the shit we are dealing with, that's the last thing that should be bothering us, to be honest. Are _you_ bothered by that?"

Zoro knew, by the tone he had used, that Sanji already knew the answer. That was the whole point of asking the last question. "Not really."

"Exactly." Point made.

And Zoro understood where he was coming from but, to be fair, Sanji's conformity with the whole issue had been the last thing he had expected from him. He had expected a big part of the problem to lay there, but either Sanji had matured and put such 'small' things aside in favour of more important ones, or he was too overwhelmed by everything else to even dare to put that into the equation, else he'd probably go nuts. Zoro bet it was the latest.

"So, the problem here is that it's _us_," Zoro concluded, warily staring at Sanji for confirmation.

"Thought you would have already reached that conclusion by now," Sanji muttered, his glare clearly judging.

"I had, bastard, I only wanted to make sure we are in the same page about this," Zoro defended.

"Well, we are."

They stared at each other in silence, and now tension was filling the room in an almost oppressive way. They knew what was coming but it was kind of violent to properly address it without beating around the bush.

Which Sanji ended up taking upon himself since the swordsman didn't seem intent on doing it.

"So," he breathed out, and it was the first time in the conversation where his voice sounded unstable. He took a deep breath to calm himself down a bit and decided to fuck it and just go ahead. "We jerked each other off."

Zoro quickly sent his stare somewhere else, the statement weighing more than it had so far when it had been kept in the privacy of his head. Okay, Sanji wasn't playing anymore. As much as they had been entertaining the issue with all of their previous questions and answers, he knew it was now when they properly addressed the fact per se.

"We did," he helpfully agreed, his voice low and almost inaudible.

Sanji stared at him a bit longer, his back tense against the wall he was leaning against in his bed.

"I think we both agree that the way we ended there has already been discussed and that it doesn't matter anymore, yeah?" he ventured, his tone a bit tough, as if to dare Zoro to say the contrary.

Zoro nodded. They had already discussed what they needed to, the answers being vague and not that satisfying at all, but still enough for now.

"Okay," Sanji sighed. They had already talked about the past. He knew the only thing left to ponder was the future. "What do we do about this?"

Here was the question. The one they had been asking themselves, unable to reach an agreement with their brains because they were more lost than they had ever been.

Zoro felt something weighing down in his stomach, something heavy, something that had him breathing a bit rougher because that was the question he'd much prefer to avoid. Because this was the question that had him confused. He knew it had to stop. It did have to: letting this drag would only end in disaster, for both of them and also for the crew. But every time he told himself that was the answer, a raging urge unhelpfully barged in the privacy of his head telling him that maybe that wasn't what he wanted. That he had fucking enjoyed the intimacy with that bastard. That, even if he tried, his thoughts were already on rebellion and thinking of Sanji 24/7, which would end up with any promise they made to ignore everything and move on ending up in failure. He repeatedly told himself that he had more willpower than that, that he wasn't going to let this fuck with him. But a constant pang in his stomach told him otherwise.

Plus, there was the fact that it didn't really matter what he said as long as Sanji would have his own opinion on this. And he did fear Sanji's answer, even if he couldn't fathom why. On the one hand he wanted the blonde to be the rational one, the one who said 'enough is enough, let's get our shit together'. It'd save him trouble, it'd make things easier for him. He knew that would be the right course of action.

On the other hand, having Sanji brushing away everything and calling it quits, having him asking for distance and finally do what they should've done all along: put an end to this… that didn't settle well in him no matter how hard he tried. At this point he couldn't ignore Sanji nor anything that had happened so far even if he tried. Even if that was what he ought to have done from the very beginning.

So his answer didn't come out as a surprise to him when he half hid his head in between his hands and shook it, knowing he must have looked pathetic. "I don't know, Sanji. I seriously don't know."

"I'm sorry, but 'I don't know' doesn't cut it anymore, Zoro. We have to do this and we have to do it now, I'm tired of this unresolved shit weighing down on us. The longer we leave it hanging the worse it'll get. We've been avoiding this for too long, now it has backfired at us, look at how we've ended."

Zoro massaged his face in frustration and glared at Sanji a bit through his fingers. Sanji had been the one to say he didn't want to talk about this when Zoro had first suggested, so much for that. But he knew that Sanji was right and he knew that it had probably taken a big effort and a good dose of bravery for Sanji to straightly face this as he was doing now, so he told himself he couldn't act like a kid and say that now _he_ didn't want to talk about it out of revenge. Sanji and Franky were right, they needed to get it over with now.

And since he was being an adult and forcing himself to act as he should, he thought he might as well keep on doing that. Either he let reason talk for him or they wouldn't be solving anything.

"We should probably stop," he forced out, and it somehow sounded defeated. He didn't look at Sanji when he talked, his head still in his hands. He felt that, for the first time, he was doing something right. That's why he didn't understand how it simultaneously felt so _wrong_ to say out loud.

Sanji looked at him, his expression tired and just as defeated as Zoro's. On the one hand he was glad Zoro had said something sensible, something both of them knew they had to do. On the other hand, he didn't remember feeling as deflated in his life. The decision they were taking now would be the one they'd stand by from now on, they both knew it, it was a silent agreement. And Zoro had said what he was supposed to say. Sanji only needed to nod and it would be a deal, the 'how' could be discussed later.

But Sanji couldn't nod over how much his stomach knotted, over how hot and cold his chest felt.

"We probably should," he muttered, his eyes still on Zoro, but his stare didn't convey his words.

Zoro felt cold run along his body. They probably should. Shouldn't they? So he nodded and kept his head low, trying to ignore how much this whole thing felt like a punch in the stomach. He was fucking nervous, which he almost never was, nervous as in wanting to crawl into a whole and make a ball of himself to make it go away because it was driving him up the wall. At the same time he felt something similar to empty. He decided it was a really bad combination to feel. It made him have the urge to puke.

And Sanji told himself that they could settle with that, that they'd finally put an end to this, the only question left being how they'd proceed about the whole jerking off thing and how they'd either pretend it had never happened or accept it had and just ignore it from now on.

That's why he didn't quite understand the words that left his mouth next.

"Zoro."

The swordsman slowly raised his head, his eye tired and his expression weary.

"What do you _want_ to do?"

That's the one question that wasn't supposed to be asked. The one that made hell break loose in their brains because _that_ had been the problem all along. What they wanted against what they knew they should do.

Zoro stilled, looking at Sanji with his eye wide, and at some point he swore he felt blood pumping in his ears. Suddenly, everything was silent and Sanji was staring at Zoro with a 'no shit' expression, one that told him that he was not fooling around, one that made his nerves go into a frenzy because, _wow_, never had Sanji looked at him like that. And suddenly everything calmed down around him, suddenly there was only Sanji and his damned question, suddenly reason disappeared and gave space for his gut feeling to kick in.

That's why that question should've never been asked.

He knew his next words could very well doom them, but he couldn't bring himself to give a fuck anymore.

"I don't want it to stop."

Zoro suddenly felt brave. Braver than he had felt in a long time. But also damn scared. Brave because of what he had just let himself admit. Scared of Sanji's answer as well as the consequences of his words. He was scared shitless for the first time in ages, but somehow he managed to keep himself collected and serene in the wait for an answer he feared.

Sanji felt something twisting inside. Something similar to thirst, something raw, similar to what he felt when fighting, something almost animalistic. But overall he felt relief. Out of everything he could have felt, he felt fucking _relieved_.

The answer overwhelmed him. That wasn't the answer he had been looking for when he had started this conversation, because he knew it would bite them in the ass sooner or later. And yet he had been craving for that one sentence _so_ much, only now he realized. He swore a hurricane had just awakened inside him as he could only stare at Zoro, as he couldn't bring himself to do what he should anymore, as he could only feel and _want_ because, fuck, he was tired of thinking and restraining everything else.

He was tired of caging his urges and instincts for the sake of reason.

He was tired of framing himself into what he was supposed to be.

So he just let go.

"Then don't stop," he breathed out.

It couldn't have sounded more like a plea if he had tried.

**TBC**


	29. Chapter 29 - Ten Seconds

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**Chapter 29**

**Ten Seconds To Change Your Mind**

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Zoro didn't know what got into him, but he just couldn't bring himself to care anymore as he ripped himself from his bed and _launched_ at Sanji, only coming back to his senses once he found himself with a hand gripping the blonde's hip in a vice and the other against the wall by Sanji's head. Their faces were almost touching, their breaths tangled, and God, did they come out heavy. Zoro bit his lip in an attempt to collect himself because he didn't know how he had just ended up there like this, but fuck if he didn't want the remaining distance to disappear. It had never taken this much effort to keep himself in check. But his chest was burning and his stomach was mid-flipping, and all he wanted was to do things to the blonde staring back at him because, fuck it, they were fucked anyways, and, shit, he couldn't control himself anymore, not when the other had given him a free pass and was now looking at him like… _this_. Whatever bit of sanity was left in him just downright exploded right there and then, and he swore he had never felt anything as raw before.

"You have ten seconds to change your mind, Sanji," he forced out, his voice semi strangled with the restraint he was imposing on himself. "I'm not listening to any reason after that."

Sanji looked at him dead in the eye, the eye contact intense enough to make Zoro clench his jaw and breathe hard through his nose in frustration. When he didn't talk, Zoro felt his patience slip away.

"One," he chewed, and his tone was both a warning and a threat.

Sanji's eyes went to his lips and Zoro swore he would lose it.

"_Two_."

Then Sanji looked up back in his eye and his stare hardened, something similar to a snarl tinting his features. Zoro didn't even have the time to get to three before he had Sanji's hand harshly grabbing his jaw in a way that could almost be considered painful as he forcibly yanked his face to the point where their lips were a breath away.

Zoro's voice caught in his throat as his stare bore in Sanji's visible eye. When the blonde spoke, more like growled, he could feel the words through the angry brushing of their lips.

"Stop messing around, Zoro, I don't have the patience for this anymore."

Next thing he knew his lips were on Sanji's in an almost aggressive lock, Sanji's hand on his jaw most definitely hurting, their lips creating not enough friction and their breath all over the place because, _fuck_, they had lost it even before starting.

And it was not enough.

Sanji's free hand went to Zoro's hair to grab his strands and yank his head back in an attempt to achieve a better angle, one that reduced the distance between them even more, which at that point was rather impossible. So much for trying, but the groan that escaped Zoro's throat as he found Sanji's tongue invading his mouth was very much worth it. Zoro fought back fast enough, and then they were battling just like they always did, the reminiscence of a challenge ringing a bell in their very lost and abandoned minds.

Zoro's grip on Sanji's hip hardened for a second before he allowed his hand to hook around Sanji's nape and press him closer, his fingers tangling in Sanji's gold locks as he ravaged the man in front of him.

The kiss only broke when Sanji used his hold on Zoro's jaw to push his face away in favour of fucking _breathing_ because he swore he had just been about to choke there. But Zoro was having none of it as he dodged Sanji's hand and went for his neck instead, planting open mouthed kisses all over his skin, biting and sucking where he had the urge to, which was pretty much everywhere. Sanji hissed and tugged at Zoro's shirt a bit frantically, conflicted between baring his neck to the greenhead and trying to escape the assault because it was seriously becoming too much for him to handle without breaking something.

Then Zoro's mouth made its way to his ear and Sanji could only squirm as his teeth captured his earlobe and tugged at it, only to let it go and shove his tongue straight inside his ear instead, giving an initial twirl in an attempt to reach everywhere. Sanji let out a low growl as Zoro's tongue began sliding in and out at a slow and deliberate pace, taking his chance to run it all over the place, the wet noises right into his ear only managing to make Sanji's breathing halt.

"Shit," he cursed as his hands flew to grab the hem of Zoro's shirt and aggressively pull it upwards, which forced Zoro to back away in order to avoid Sanji strangling him with it. He quickly finished the job Sanji had started, leaving himself topless in front of a very horny blonde.

The way Sanji devoured him with his eyes stopped Zoro in his tracks as he felt something quite evident hardening down there, his darkest desires surfacing as he got hit by that hell of a stare. That moment of distraction gave Sanji the second he needed to lean forwards and take care of Zoro's strong neck in revenge.

Zoro tried to get Sanji off him, but Sanji held him in place by his nape, and the next moment he was biting down _hard_, which earned him a loud pained groan from Zoro. That would leave mark for sure. That if he hadn't drawn blood already. Sanji was quick to lick and suck at the wound in something that may or may not have been an apology and Zoro got lost in the vague thought of how good Sanji was with that tongue.

Sanji's lips climbed up his chin, which he sloppily mouthed, and he got Zoro to tilt his head so that he could capture his lips yet again, letting Zoro's eager tongue inside his mouth for a good while before he fought back at all. Zoro's hand was tangled in Sanji's hair, the pressure and slight yanking rising the more their lips burned with the friction.

By then, Zoro had fully straddled Sanji and now they both could feel their clothed erections against each other's, which had Sanji palming Zoro's hips and forcing them forwards to achieve the angle he knew they both wanted.

Zoro's hips automatically bucked as soon as the friction shot up his spine, and Sanji lightly moaned at the contact because _fuck yeah_.

The contact became needier the more Zoro moved on Sanji, dragging his pelvis down and hard as Sanji dragged his hips up and backwards to the point it was painful yet so perfect. Zoro's lips caught Sanji's again in an attempt to suppress a moan with a particular hard thrust they had managed to deliciously coordinate, but that only ended up with him silently moaning against Sanji's wet lips, granting free access to Sanji's abusive tongue, which managed to get dominance for a few seconds before Zoro had the mind to collaborate, the kiss sloppy and full of tongue and teeth.

When Sanji's mouth found Zoro's strong neck and harshly bit down on it without a care in the world about the marks he'd leave, Zoro's hips grounded down with force in an almost frantic movement, to which Sanji had to let go of the abused skin with a gasp.

"Oh, fuck-"

"Get that fucking shirt off," Zoro ordered between heavy pants, his hands flying everywhere they reached, not deciding if they should unbutton his shirt, rip it, grope everything he could or slide them under the offending fabric. He had settled down for ripping the shitty piece of clothing as the best option when Sanji pushed him back with a warning glare, knowing full well where Zoro was going and quickly unbuttoning it instead in an attempt to save the poor shirt, which wasn't at fault that they were thirsty and frustrated bastards. He just managed to unbutton the last button when Zoro's hands came back to him and yanked the shirt away from his body, throwing it elsewhere without looking as he was now too occupied claiming Sanji's lips and letting his calloused and warm hands wander all along Sanji's toned torso.

"You're cold," he whispered against Sanji's lips.

"You're hot," Sanji retorted in a breathless throaty groan.

"I've been told so."

"You fucking prick. I didn't mean it that way," Sanji growled in between pants as Zoro decided to attack his collarbones with what definitely _wasn't_ a chuckle, grinding his hips against Sanji's at a painfully slow yet intense pace. "You wish you were," the blonde added for good measure.

"What about you stop worshiping my abs then?" Zoro smirked, making Sanji suddenly self-conscious of how his hands had been tracing every inch of Zoro's abdomen in a way that could only be described as greedy.

The joke was on Zoro, though, when Sanji's hand shot down to grab his crotch way too harshly instead, in a way that was both a bit painful and extremely pleasurable. Zoro growled deep and threw his head back at the sudden gesture, making Sanji smirk in triumph.

"Want me to worship this instead?" he let out in an unbearably sultry and _low_ voice that pushed all the right buttons to make Zoro's skin break out in goosebumps as an intense chill shot down his spine.

"Fuck," he choked, his head falling back down, nose brushing Sanji's, his hot breath hitting the blonde's face.

Sanji shouldn't have done that. Next thing he knew, Zoro had jumped out of his lap and pushed him down the mattress, crawling on top of him like a beast ready to devour his prey. The only reason he stopped was the pained cry that suddenly escaped from the blonde's lips as soon as his back hit the surface.

He first stopped out of surprise as Sanji's strangled cry sounded absolutely out of place in the situation they were in, but it barely took him two seconds to understand what had happened as he watched Sanji's face contort in pain under him.

"Shit, your back!" he cursed, his expression going from horny and predatory to freaking out as he realized he had completely forgotten about Sanji's condition and had potentially made it worse. "Shit, sorry-"

"I'm fine, dickhead," Sanji growled, eyes sliding shut in an attempt to concentrate on restraining any pained sounds from escaping his mouth and making the pain recede. Fuck his back. It hurt like a bitch. "Fucking asshole."

Zoro retreated a bit and let himself sit down on Sanji's hips and upper thighs, avoiding putting more strain on Sanji's injured back as he watched the blonde get a hold of himself with a worried expression. _All the while_ trying to ignore the very obvious boner he currently sported, that is, which was starting to protest inside his pants.

"Sorry," he muttered again, knowing full well that Sanji wasn't listening as he mindlessly cursed him under his breath to try to ease the pain away.

He kind of had the urge to reach to Sanji and _maybe_ caress his sides or his neck in order to help him relax and maybe help it hurt less or distract him, but he was hardly a man of affections and it just felt fucking awkward to do as well as out of place, plus he was sure Sanji would murder him if he got anything close to sweet with him (which he wouldn't, _ew_, it was Sanji), so he settled down for watching him awkwardly, hoping for it to go away as he willed his hard-on to behave and be patient in the meantime.

What a way to fuck things up, shit. Zoro cursed himself as he tried not to acknowledge how helplessly horny he was in favour of caring about Sanji's not-so-good condition, which he had just idiotically fucked up, instead. If Sanji decided to call him an idiot or whatever colourful insult he came up with, Zoro would, for once, accept it. If this ended up with him having cockblocked himself he swore he would break things.

"Is it any better?" he asked after two or three minutes, making an effort not to sound impatient or needy, which he totally failed at.

Sanji raised his head a bit and glared hard at him, the beginning of a snarl in place. "Give me a fucking break, asshole," he snapped with a grunt. "Shitty tactless caveman," he mumbled as he sent a hand upwards to cover his face in an attempt to concentrate on properly breathing. The pain was finally receding. But it was hard to relax and make it better when he had a raging hard-on bugging him in his pants to add to everything.

Zoro knew he shouldn't have, but he couldn't help but snicker a bit. If Sanji was able to display his sass and insults repertoire, it meant he hadn't hurt him that bad after all. Or that it was getting better, at least.

Sanji felt more than saw Zoro approaching him again, his breath ghosting over the skin in his neck. He got goosebumps and shrunk a bit as he felt wet and warm lips pressing against his pulse. It wasn't rough as it had been all along, but it wasn't exactly gentle either. It was just there and it made him sigh deep as Zoro's mouth began placing slow open-mouthed kisses all along his pulse, first up to his jaw, then travelling to his chin and from there south, finding some form of entertainment on his throat and licking and slightly biting when he got to his chest. By then, Sanji's breathing was labored again and his hand merely rested on his forehead as he felt the pain either go away or give way to the pleasure he was now feeling, he couldn't quite tell.

Zoro placed his hands in either side of Sanji's hips, his thumbs trailing soothing circles that kept increasing their pressure as he worked downwards. When his lips met Sanji's nipple he stopped and looked at it for a second, his mind blank for a moment before he decided that a nipple was a nipple no matter the gender of the owner, nothing he hadn't played with before, something he knew how to work with. So he sunk back down and let his bruised lips cage the bud and tentatively suck at it, a bit wary of Sanji's reaction. When the other arched his back and slightly moaned he knew for sure that the pain had calmed down and that the blonde was definitely enjoying it. Both of them were excellent news. And he decided to celebrate by biting down a bit harshly, making Sanji's breath halt as his hands came down to yank at Zoro's short strands in a warning, which made Zoro let go and kiss the swollen area instead with the intention to appease the cook a bit.

He then repeated the process with the other nipple, playing with the already abused one with calloused fingers, which had Sanji both pulling Zoro's head away and pressing it down, not being able to decide what he wanted at all.

At that point Zoro could feel Sanji's arousal pressing against his stomach, which was now resting in between the blonde's strong (and inconveniently clothed) thighs as he worked his way downwards. Not that his little friend down there was chilling either. More like insistently pressing against his pants in protest. Damn, Zoro couldn't get passed the sounds Sanji was letting out and he was honestly annoyed by the fact that they affected him like that. As in, they _really_ turned him on. He knew he'd have a hard time trying to keep them out of his head in his future jerk-off sessions, which pissed him off as that'd make it all the more difficult to find a damn moment of the day when he wouldn't be thinking of a certain blonde.

It was with these thoughts swaying in his head along with Sanji's light noises that Zoro's hands travelled north and got a hard grip of Sanji's sides with the strong urge to feel him near. Just that instead of responding as he should've, the blonde winced and snarled, his back curling upwards and instantly falling back down it pain at the new strain. Zoro quickly let go as if his hands had caught fire, Sanji's contorted face coming to view.

"For fuck's sake!" Sanji groaned in sheer frustration. Zoro was pretty sure Sanji was angrier at himself and his wounds than Zoro could bring himself to be at the whole situation.

Zoro lifted himself up, sitting back on Sanji's thighs, letting out a very frustrated huff as he massaged his face in an attempt to calm the fuck down. His dick wasn't happy with all that self-restraint show he was being forced to pull, that was for sure.

"Sorry," he apologized again, though his tone was noticeably forced this time.

Sanji managed to even his breathing, scowl in place. It registered in Zoro's brain that it wasn't only Sanji's back giving them shit but also his broken ribs he had just gone and harshly squeezed. Wasn't Zoro skilled.

Of course it wouldn't be a piece of cake, not even when they had decided to throw care and reason through the window and make things easy by listening to their instincts. When it wasn't their brains cockblocking them, it was external circumstances they couldn't quite control. Damn it all, Zoro was horny as fuck and he wanted to ravage the blonde under him with an animalistic need, yet here he was: controlling each of his movements to keep himself in check and ignoring his throbbing erection as he tried to bring his brain to function again in order to make some wise decision for a change.

"Let's give your back a break, shall we," he chewed with anything but conviction as he made an effort not to be pissed off and peel himself away from Sanji. It wasn't the blonde's fault after all. Just stars aligning to make his life hell once more.

"_The fuck do you think you are doing_," Sanji spat with a threatening tone.

Zoro sent him a disbelieving look as he was stopped in his tracks by his voice, raising an eyebrow for emphasis.

"Trying not to fuck your back further so that you can do a decent job tomorrow in the competition instead of getting in my way," he curtly answered with a bit of a glare. Because that's what he said, but what he meant was 'cockblocking myself again'. Which didn't exactly make him happy. Like, at all.

"_As if_. I don't know if you fucking noticed but I have a bit of a problem down there, you're not going to fucking leave me hanging _again_," Sanji snapped, slightly raising his upper body with a bit of difficulty in order to properly glower threatening daggers at Zoro.

"What the hell, I am actually being considerate here, asshole! Do you think I am happy with this?" Zoro countered with an outraged tone as he widely gestured towards the very obvious neglected tent in his pants. "Sorry for not being a prick and actually caring about your damn health instead of putting my dick's needs first, bastard."

Sanji sneered in plain frustration, throwing his head back for a second and glaring back at Zoro once he collected himself enough to restrain the kick he wanted to land in Zoro's ass.

"Look, either you finish this or I take care of it myself, but I'm not going to sleep with a fucking boner _you_ are responsible for!"

Zoro scowled hard. So Sanji didn't give a fuck? Well, then, Zoro wasn't going to take it upon himself to care for him. Sanji's recklessness was his own business. He was going through enough trouble controlling himself as for Sanji to make it more difficult and expect him to remain in check.

Just as Sanji's hand went to unbuckle his own belt, Zoro's hand batted it away and took care of Sanji's pants himself. He wouldn't be taking this too far, neither of them were in any condition nor anywhere near ready to do so, but at least he'd comply with Sanji's bossy demands and give themselves a bit of release, which they very much needed.

When he started pumping Sanji's length, the blonde fell back onto the mattress with his eyes tightly shut as he tried to concentrate in the way Zoro's callouses grazed his sensitive skin instead of the receding waves of pain in his back and ribs. Zoro's thumb went to his tip and pressed there, smearing precum, making Sanji fail to suppress a moan. _Finally_. Fuck, they sure made things difficult, didn't they?

Zoro groaned above him, and Sanji had enough awareness as to come to the conclusion that he should probably do something as well. He allowed himself a few seconds to make sure that the pain was bearable before forcing Zoro to let go and sneak his hands to Zoro's pants, which he began to loosen with fast movements. Zoro got the hint and raised from bed to kick the piece of clothing away, then crawled back to Sanji, who was quick to take a hold of his dick and pump it, making Zoro snarl at how cold his hand was and at how damn good it felt.

It took the swordsman a second to remember where he was before being interrupted, and he willed himself to continue with his ministrations, making Sanji sigh in bliss as soon as he went back to touch him.

It wasn't as rough of a hand job as it had been in the bathroom the previous day. Now they knew they had time, they were both okay with it (finally), and Zoro kept Sanji's condition in mind, so, while it was nowhere near gentle, it at least wasn't aggressive and rushed as it would've probably been had they still been in denial or feeling angsty about the whole thing. The silent agreement they had finally reached left a small door open for them to consider what they were doing in a different light, to kind of accept it instead of fighting it away, to carry the whole business differently and just a tad bit more relaxedly: not less frantic, just less shame-tinted.

A skilled tug down there had Zoro letting out a moan, which Sanji was surprisingly pleased to hear as heat pooled in his stomach while he watched the greenhead with half-lidded eyes. Drops of sweat fell on him as Zoro moved above him, as Zoro got both their cocks together and started picking up a rhythm that felt just right. Sanji closed his eyes and let out a deep breath which could've been a suppressed whimper. Damn, did it feel great.

Sanji's pleasured and sweaty face, eyes closed and head hanging, stirred something raw inside Zoro as soon as he looked down at him. He couldn't quite pinpoint what it was, but it suddenly set fire inside him, it suddenly awakened all kind of urges in his body, and Zoro felt _overwhelmed_, not really knowing what to do with himself, which was, at the very least, unusual for him. Then lips were on Sanji's and Sanji gasped a bit, not expecting the gesture but proving to be okay with it as soon as he kissed back, Zoro's tongue invading his mouth in an overly-possessive manner that stole his breath away.

The way he leaned down provoked just the right friction between their members, Zoro's hand squeezing around them out of instinct the moment pleasure shot down his spine, which had Sanji moaning in his mouth and Zoro's breath hitching.

"Fuck."

It was just then that Sanji had the heavenly-induced urge to buck his hips, his erection harshly sliding between and against Zoro's cock and his hand, making Zoro see white as the feisty blonde under him decided to give no fucks and fuck Zoro's hand with erratic hip thrusts.

Zoro had half the mind to remind him of the fact that he shouldn't be straining his back like that, but there was that particular angle Sanji reached while the thought was being processed that made him shut his mouth for good and start thrusting his own hips in sync with Sanji's.

Zoro hissed when Sanji bit down hard on his neck, which Zoro was starting to think the blonde had a fetish with. It hurt, as it was a proper bite, but the greenhead found himself not having a damn problem with it, which was made crystal clear as he moaned quite loud in response. Sanji's tongue lapped where he had bit in a slick and wet manner, the sound Zoro had just made reverberating in his ear. Taking into account the fact that Zoro was more of the silent type, every time he rose a lustful noise from the bastard he felt not only highly aroused but satisfyingly accomplished.

Sanji held his breath as Zoro hid his face in the crook of Sanji's neck, trying to regain some composure but failing, his mouth getting whatever bit of skin he could reach, making Sanji squirm.

Sanji's hand went to join Zoro's down south, getting the right angle and fastening the pace as he was getting close. Zoro groaned against his ear and he quickly picked up his head to smash his lips against Sanji's out of voracious impulse, practically intent on devouring him as his hips started to frantically thrust in the grip both him and Sanji kept on their lengths.

"Faster," Sanji frustratedly growled, bucking his hips for emphasis. Shit, he was so close and it was so _hot_.

Zoro didn't have any objection to the order, even if he doubted it was even possible to keep up with a quicker pace that the frantic one they had already gotten into.

And just like that, with one of Zoro's uncoordinated moves that somehow managed to force the exact necessary friction between them, Sanji gasped and moaned as he released in between them, Zoro following short after with a deep grunt and a few curses.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck-" Sanji repeated like a prayer, head sunk back in the mattress as he went through his orgasm, hearing Zoro's voice somewhere near him but not processing the words, though he could clearly feel him trembling against his body. That particular sensation remained strikingly clear through his haze.

It took him a while to get his senses back as he felt slightly dizzy and definitely alienated of his brain. First thing he registered was the ceiling, which was being decorated with black and white spots dancing in front of his eyes, which were still adjusting to the ability of seeing again. Next was the pain down his back, which became more intense the more his brain cleared of his high. He decided to ignore it in favour of properly regaining his breath, which was all over the place and considerably labored. His chest rose and fell at a heavy and fast rhythm and he tried to breathe through his nose in order to control it, to no avail. He consecutively realized he was too hot for comfort, which brought him to register the body plastered to his side, half over him, half sprawled on the free space in the mattress.

Sanji made an effort to look to the side and found Zoro's eye staring directly and kind of blankly at him, looking exhausted and out of breath, sweaty and hot, but kind of pleased anyways. There was no scowl in his face, which was a first. As tired as he looked, he also looked tranquil and serene, as if he had gotten something heavy out of his chest once and for all.

And, honestly, Sanji also felt like this. His body felt limp and drained and his back hurt like a bitch but, for the first time in weeks, his chest felt empty of worries and problems, just as if they had been washed away, or at least concealed for a while. He felt utterly relaxed, no tension whatsoever left in him, and he swore that was one of the most pleasant post high experiences he had ever felt, maybe because of all the tension that had been preceding it for weeks. He wasn't exactly surprised, though, he was starting to learn that having any kind of sexual intercourse with the damn marimo was like running a fucking marathon, that's how intense and demanding the bastard was. Just and _exactly_ like when he fought, the bastard had no chill. And he had once taken him as being asexual. The joke was on him, apparently.

"Get off, it's too hot," he had the mind to order with an annoyed frown. To which Zoro frowned back but complied, kicking Sanji's hips to the side with his knees so that he'd leave some free space for Zoro to fully lay on. "You've got a fucking bed," Sanji grunted.

"Shut the fuck up and give me a break, I can't move," Zoro huffed in annoyance, his eyes closing as he made himself comfortable. He felt like sleeping for hours. And it had only been a hand job. A pretty fucking intense one, granted, but still a mere hand job. Holy shit. That blonde sure knew how to drain him.

"Such a tough guy," Sanji half teased, scooting against the wall so that Zoro's crazy body heat wouldn't fry him alive.

"Shut up, pansy, it's not like you are doing anything to kick me out with how tough you claim to be yourself."

"My back is fucked, excuse you."

"Hasn't stopped you from forcing me to jerk you off, has it."

Sanji opened his eyes in outrage, glaring hard at him but not having the strength to physically proceed with any of the murder plans his brain was coming up with.

"Forced you?!" he screeched, making sure to print all of his incredulous sass in his voice. "Your little friend down there should be fucking bowing at me for consenting to do shit, it's not like it wasn't happy with the outcome, fucker!"

"My little friend down there is not exactly little, curly brow, thought you would've noticed by now."

"I'm _not_ discussing your dick size with you," Sanji sentenced with a deadpan expression. "Out of my damn bed."

"Give me two minutes."

"Go fuck yourself."

"That's what I'll have to do if you keep being a weak pansy who can't cope with the rhythm."

"Who the fucking fuck said we'd be fucking _fucking_?" Sanji snapped with an accusing glare and a slightly high-pitched tone that forced Zoro to open his eye and look at him, realizing what he had just implied. Which the blonde didn't seem to like. Plus, there were too many 'fucks' in that sentence, even for Sanji.

Weirdly enough, instead of freaking out about it as he had been doing for the past weeks when it came to any relatively sensitive topic relating to the blonde, he merely shrugged, feeling only slightly bugged by it. To be honest, he was still so overwhelmed with his orgasm that he couldn't bring himself to care much. If only he had known that the way to have some actual peace of mind would be an agreement to fool around with Sanji and an aggressive make-out session, he would've done it earlier.

"I don't think we agreed on anything in particular," he muttered in an almost nonchalant manner, his eye on Sanji's. Sanji looked a bit more troubled than him, but he somehow knew it wasn't the bad kind of troubled. Sanji wasn't causing a scene nor regretting his life choices, at least not now, or at least not out loud, which told him everything was fine for the time being. Much better than it had been for a long while, actually.

"Well, we are _not_ fucking," Sanji curtly announced with a 'deal with it' expression.

Zoro shrugged again. It was weird indeed how he was feeling this chill about the whole thing, after having jerked off together with Sanji _again_, out of both their consents, after having finally thrown all the 'should haves' through the window for good and abandoned themselves to whatever they pleased without regretting it the minute after. After silently admitting that what had happened in that bathroom wasn't an accident they'd brush off as irrelevant, but something they both clearly enjoyed enough as to repeat. Which should be troubling, to be fair, especially with Sanji being Sanji and Zoro being Zoro.

But here he was: not caring too much for the first time in a _long_ time and feeling satisfied and relaxed in the same bed Sanji was reluctantly sharing with him. And Sanji wasn't kicking him out, which seemed like a miracle.

"Are we doing this again, though?" Zoro found himself blurting out with a collected tone. He did freak out a bit about this, though, as soon as the words casually left his mouth. What the fuck was he saying without the permission of his brain? He appreciated the chill feeling about this all, but there was something as too much chill, which usually led to careless questions or statements that hadn't been really thought through. Which wasn't Zoro's style. Now he would look needy. Not that he didn't want to do it again, he fucking did because he didn't remember doing anything as stress-relieving and fucking intense and _woah _as that in a long, _long _time, but Sanji didn't need to know that.

The blonde blinked at him, making Zoro feel a bit like an idiot. "We just did it, Jesus Christ, keep it in your fucking pants! I've got quite a sore back and a fight to face tomorrow, in case you forgot!"

"I don't mean now!" Zoro defended with an offended scowl. Shit, he had indeed sounded needy for Sanji to interpret he wanted a second round right now. For fuck's sake, he couldn't even get out of Sanji's bed, how was he supposed to do anything besides laying down like a plant photosynthesizing? Oh, damn, that mental comparison had sounded an awful lot like something Sanji would say. Damn it, did rubbing their dicks together rub Sanji's stupidity on him as well as a side effect?

When he lifted his gaze and found Sanji looking at him with both eyebrows raised, Zoro realized he had been zoning out for too long, probably pulling weird faces and scowls as one troubling thought followed the other.

"I meant in the future," Zoro was quick to clarify before Sanji could ask him what he was thinking about. "As in, is this a one-time thing or is this going to be relatively regular?"

Sanji's turn to shrug. They were definitely taking this in a quite chill manner for a change. Good. About time. Zoro honestly felt more like an adult now than he had ever felt. Franky would be proud- no, wait, would he? He had just jerked Sanji off and he doubted Fran-

"It's hardly a one-time thing when it's the second time we've done it in less than 24 hours," Sanji sassily responded, making Zoro get out of his musings with the urge to smack him hard. Which he would've done hadn't Sanji been injured and Zoro too tired to move a muscle. "That without counting the kiss in The Rock. Man, that was weird as fuck," Sanji reminisced, which made Zoro smile a bit, incapable of disagreeing with that.

The kiss that had started everything had been so out of the blue that he didn't even try to reason it anymore nowadays. Not seriously at least, because, when he did, he got a damn headache at the many implications that kiss could have. As much as Sanji was joking about it right now, that kiss had driven them crazy for weeks and was most definitely _not_ a joke. It's just that, if he didn't give much thought to the circumstances surrounding it, which were the scary and uncertain part about it, the kiss _per se_ was objectively the last thing he needed to worry about since they had done far more than kissing by now.

"Then it's going to be regular?" he prodded. It's not that he was _that_ eager for it to happen again, _not at all_, it's just that he liked things to be clear between them. They had been muddy for a while and it had proved to cause more harm than good. Now that something physical and potentially troublesome (if not treated with due care) had happened, it was more necessary than ever to talk things out and agree on what they wanted and what they didn't. Ignoring their first jerk-off session had been an utter disaster and far more aggravating than benefitting, so there was that.

And Sanji had asked him if he wanted whatever was going on between them to stop and he had finally been honest enough as to admit that he didn't. Which had lead them to a pretty fruitful and stress-relieving make-out session he was more than pleased with, especially now that he felt like he was resting on a cloud, more relaxed than he had ever been. That hadn't been too bad of an outcome, had it? And it had come out of _properly_ talking things out and being honest about what they wanted, so he did feel inclined to talk about it now, as much an action person as Zoro normally was.

"Don't know," Sanji answered, his expression a bit more serious. He was surprised he didn't feel more troubled discussing this, only a tad uncomfortable, but definitely not freaking out. "Do you want it to be regular?"

"Why do I always have to answer the tricky questions first?" Zoro protested. He had asked first, dammit.

"You did say you didn't want it to stop," Sanji spoke while ignoring Zoro's latest comment. "Does that mean you want it to… happen more times?"

Zoro blinked at him, making an effort to continue with the damn conversation and shrugging.

Whatever was going on, as much as reason told him to back off, he didn't _feel _like stopping. The idea of doing so settled badly in him, more than the idea of continuing with something he knew could potentially mess things up further.

"Well, I could use some release every now and then," he vaguely retorted, slightly raising his eyebrows as he gave Sanji a tentative glance, warily waiting for his reaction.

Sanji looked back at him for a while, apparently deep in thought, and Zoro felt slightly nervous. Leave it to the blonde to break his peaceful state of mind with a mere silence.

"Could work," Sanji ended up saying, his gaze back at the ceiling. Which seemed to lift a weigh from Zoro's shoulders. He liked that answer.

And, since Zoro apparently couldn't perform more than three actions in a row without fucking up, he had to go and spit something retarded two damned minutes later, when it was totally unnecessary to talk anymore, but Zoro was a bit of a masochist as he was learning, so he talked anyway.

"So, are we like fuck buddies or something?"

Sanji's eyes slowly went from the ceiling to Zoro in a deadpan expression that had Zoro wanting to cut his own tongue off. For how curt he normally was with words, he sure managed to blurt overwhelming amounts of unnecessary bullshit in the worse moments some times.

"How the fuck are we '_buddies_'?" Sanji mechanically questioned, his glare intent on making Zoro feel stupid. He achieved his goal.

Good point. Wrong term used there.

Zoro had never blushed as hard before. "You know what I mean, asshole! You wish we were buddies, or friends, or whatever. As if!"

Sanji rolled his eyes, the annoyance he felt at Zoro using this word to refer to them compensated with the personal joy Zoro's embarrassed expression brought him.

"I guess we could say we are… each other's 'stress reliever'?" Sanji ventured when Zoro had stopped insulting him. And Zoro was surprised that the blonde had been giving it any thought at all.

Zoro blinked at him and then looked aside, pondering the term and finding that he wasn't entirely opposed to that at all.

"Could work," he mimicked Sanji, making it sound like it wasn't a big deal at all. Making it sound like they weren't casually agreeing on being fuck buddies, because that's what they were doing, wording aside. Damn, were they really doing that? Just when he thought he had seen it all. A few months ago, if someone had told him that he would end up being 'rivals with benefits' with Sanji, he would've sliced their head for blaspheming. What was his life.

"Moss head."

"What."

"Is this us agreeing on something?"

When Zoro looked up to fix his eye on Sanji again he found the blonde with an incredulous and mock-amazed expression that would've matched a three-year-old kid's, his big blue eyes so wide that they could've fallen from their sockets. And he couldn't help but fall into a hard laughing fit as he hadn't been expecting that dumb face right in front of his nose, and, really, he looked dumb as fuck.

Sanji found himself smiling at his own humor (wasn't he funny), but mostly at Zoro's barks of laughter. He hadn't heard that deep gruff sound in a long time, and somehow it felt refreshing. Not that he had laughed much recently either. He wasn't sure he had ever been the cause for Zoro's laugh, but it was quite satisfying.

And since Zoro was having a hard time breathing properly, holding his hurting stomach in his arms, Sanji took the chance to perform a strategic kick that threw him out of bed with a loud thump.

Zoro's laughter was interrupted as a pained grunt escaped his throat.

"Bastard."

"Go back to your damn bed," Sanji ordered as he made himself widely comfortable in all the extent of his mattress, deliberately flaunting the fact that he was all cozy and comfortable and _not_ on the floor like Zoro.

"I'll murder you one of this days."

"Feel free to try," Sanji sassily replied as he gave him his back, settling for a comfortable pose and completely ignoring Zoro's bad fortune and throbbing pain in the ass, which he had landed on when Sanji had kicked him out of bed.

"I swear-"

"Fucking go to sleep already, marimo," Sanji cut him with an imperative tone. "We have a match to win tomorrow."

"You are fucking insufferable."

"Good night."

Zoro glared hard at Sanji's back from his position on the floor, vaguely wondering how in the world he had agreed on future sexual intercourses with that bastard he sometimes felt like he hated so much. And it was a legit question, he honestly didn't know why or how things had ended up like this, but he was too tired to look for an answer, so he just lamely crawled to his own bed, insulting Sanji under his breath all along and vaguely registering Sanji insulting him back with a lazy tone.

As for Sanji, he mentally willed Zoro to shut the fuck up as he needed some time to reflect on what had just happened, and Zoro's gibberish didn't quite help him focus.

He wasn't as troubled about the situation itself as he was about how not too troubled he was about it. One month ago he would have sworn on his tombstone that he was the straightest man on Earth. One month ago he would've never agreed on starting anything like this with none other than the damn swordsman he hated the guts of. One month ago this situation would've been a fucking nightmare he'd pray to get rid of. Now he found himself having agreed on doing certain 'favours' to the swordsman in exchange of his when they got frustrated and needed some release. Now he found himself lying in a bed where he had just had a heavy make-out session with Zoro and not being disgusted nor freaking out about it, but rather accepting it and feeling quite satisfied with the result of their activities. Not only that: with all the shit they had been going through, with how difficult they had made everything up until now, it was now all washed away amd only a bugging feeling remained. No unbearable stress, no wishes to flee away from the other's presence, no major life-troubling thoughts, but just calm, certain numbness and something similar to content. Sanji didn't remember feeling this carefree (even with the lingering bugging telling him that this wasn't such a good idea) in the longest time.

That may be why he hadn't thought much before accepting the deal with Zoro. Maybe he just didn't want to overthink anymore as he had been doing so for too long, proving to make his own life more difficult than necessary. Maybe he had come to terms with the fact that it was easier to just roll with the flow as it came and try to give no fucks. Maybe he just wanted to feel like this again because, fuck, that had felt fucking good, almost like a challenge, even with his back getting in the way, and now he was feeling great and ready to sleep like a baby, which was a first in the past months.

To be fair, Sanji had always been a strong believer that getting laid was the best cure for stress. It just so happened that his partner in crime was his sworn rival and nakama, and a guy to add to everything, no big deal.

He knew he should've been worried, freaking out like he had the day before, and rethinking life choices. But sleep was tugging at him and he didn't have it in him to feel anything negative about the only thing that had managed to get the breath-strangling anxiousness out of his system. So he just went with the satisfied feeling for now. He knew that later on his brain, with how hyperactive it was, would give him shit about it. He knew that he'd have a sexuality crisis at some point (which he was surprised he hadn't had yet): he didn't trust his ladies' man self not to go through it at all since his straightness and manliness had always been a huge issue for him, but for now he just kind of accepted it. It's not like anything major had changed: it's not like he had suddenly discovered his love for men. Far from it, he still wanted his beautiful women in his life and he most _definitely_ didn't want any men near his crotch or ass, or in his same bed. Asides from Zoro, maybe. It's just that he had been both frustrated _and_ sexually frustrated for a while, as he now realized, and sometimes one just needed release. If the one Zoro provided was good enough as to make him see stars, he'd just go along with it as an escape gate for now.

Plus, the intercourse had proven to do good to their crumbling relationship. It was the first time they had mindlessly bickered without trying to pretend that everything was alright ever since the 'The Rock' accident. It was the closest to normality they had been ever since that kiss that had damned it all. Which was pretty ironic taking into account that they had literally just shared a heavy hand job and grinding session.

His thoughts came to a halt as his hand felt something sticky on his abdomen. It took him a few seconds to process the sensation before his eyes widened in realization and a disgusted grimace took over his face.

"Oi!" he barked at Zoro, turning on his bed to face him with a horrified face.

"What."

"Bring me a fucking cloth."

Zoro opened his already closed eye, looking at Sanji with a 'really now' expression.

"The fuck are you saying."

"I've got come all over me, bastard, I need to clean! Not to mention I'm not sleeping in these fucking sheets, damn, there's stains everywhere," Sanji started complaining with a highly disgusted face. He didn't really want to think about the fact that it wasn't only his own come but Zoro's that were on him. _Ew_, fucking _ew_.

"It's your goddamn problem, go get the cloth yourself," Zoro grumbled with an annoyed scowl. Now that the topic had been brought to his attention he noticed he also had some come on him, but it definitely wasn't as much as there was on Sanji.

"My back is injured," Sanji sternly countered. "Shit, this is disgusting."

"You are a pansy."

"And you are a fucking pig for not caring about hygiene. Bring the damn cloth."

"I'm not your damn servant!"

"I swear to God, Zoro, if I have to get up I'll wrap your face tight with these disgusting sheets and-"

"For fuck's sake, you're bitchy! And bossy! And insufferable!" Zoro started barking back. But Sanji decided to remain silent and simply go with it as Zoro stood up of bed with a huff, all along spatting nasty adjectives that would properly describe Sanji's attitude. He managed to make the list last until he had come back from the bathroom and was handing the cloth to Sanji after having wiped himself clean. "And you are a fucking prick," he finished.

"See? Wasn't that difficult," Sanji had the nerve to say as he caught the cloth and started cleaning himself, making Zoro fume. "And put something on, I don't need your naked body in my face, muscle head."

Zoro's patience reached negative figures and he very maturely smacked Sanji's head. Hard.

"What the fuck!"

"That's for being an asshole. Now leave me alone and let me sleep or I'll beat your ass."

"Fight me."

Zoro flicked him the bird and went back to bed, covering his lower body with his thankfully clean sheets and not really bothering with getting dressed. Not that Sanji was getting dressed either, so he could just suck it.

Sanji kept cursing under his breath as he went through the hassle to turn the sheets upside down so that the stained parts wouldn't be in contact with his body while he slept. Not really feeling like touching Zoro's dried cum, thank you very much.

And, on this mature note, they both ended up settling down in their respective beds, back to back and mentally planning each other's death, half wondering how the fuck they had agreed on keeping this up with a major exasperating idiot as the other was, and eventually drifting to sleep.

They'd need some serious rest if they planned on having a chance against the twins the day after. It's not like they had many more hours left of sleep at that point. Not that it hadn't been worth it… But they _really_ needed to get the most rest they could: the fight awaiting them wasn't going to be easy.

Zoro's last thought was spent on worrying about Sanji's condition, hoping with all his might that the blonde would be able to handle it as all the circumstances were against him. He really, really hoped he'd be alright. Not that he'd ever express his concern out loud, he wasn't even fully admitting it to himself, just barely acknowledging that it was kind of there.

"Oi, moss head."

Zoro automatically frowned, wondering why the fuck the cook wasn't asleep yet.

"I'm sleeping," he groaned, not bothering to turn to him.

"But it's something that I _really_ need to point out. I won't be able to sleep if I don't," Sanji complained.

It was the whole bratty whiny and low key little-shit tone he used that made Zoro know what was coming. He just _knew_. Sometimes they had that scary telepathy going on between them, or maybe it was just that Zoro was too used to Sanji being a jerk to him for him not to know where this was fucking going. And he really didn't want to go there. Else there was no sleeping granted tonight. Because if he was right, and he knew he was, Sanji was about to start a fucking war.

"Zoro? Are you listening?" Sanji teased, using his most annoying fake-innocent tone.

Zoro _so_ knew what was coming.

"Hoe, don't do it," he warned.

To no avail.

"I couldn't help but notice that my dick is bigger than yours. No offence there, just thought it was worth noting-"

"_Oh my God_."

And, surely enough, Zoro was up and yelling bloody murder at Sanji only to find Sanji smirking back at him and, _of course_, hell broke loose.

For fuck's sake, all Zoro had ever wanted when he had decided to listen to his crewmates and go back to the hotel had been to get some fucking sleep.

So much for that.

**TBC**

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**A/N: ***cough, cough* I don't really know what to comment here OMG, but I really hope you enjoyed it, I sure had fun writing it! Here you have a bit of a breather and hopefully not too crappy smut lol but at least they finally CHILL omg, about time! gosh! and, yes, battle time is coming!

I really hope you enjoyed it, sorry for not replying to the comments, I am stressing out with exams so I barely have time, but I managed to finish this one during my breaks so I thought I'd post it! :) but I'll let you know I read every one of them and they make me so happy, as always, so thank you very much!

Let me know what you think if you have the time (queen "what is time" speaking here, so I totally understand if you don't lol)! Have a nice week all of you! :)


	30. Chapter 30 - 200

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**Chapter 30**

**200%**

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Sanji had always been a dead serious defender of the heavenly benefits of a good daily shower, especially under the prospect of having to live with smelly bastards in a space-limited ship for pretty much all of his life, but he swore this one had beaten records of holiness and perfection.

When he had woken up to dirty, cum-covered, sweaty sheets, he had almost killed someone, Zoro being the main potential victim since there was no one else in the room whose ass he could kick, and he was kind of responsible for the disgusting mess. Luckily enough for the bastard, last night's activities had left him almost empty of murderous feelings to fuel him in his organism, which wasn´t necessarily bad.

It had been a bad wakening, though: he had basically jumped out of bed and into the shower, the disgusted squeal escaping his throat first thing in the morning going luckily unnoticed by the sleeping swordsman. Luckily for the swordsman, of course, had he heard that, Sanji would have had to kill him, no other choice left for him to make. He had scrubbed and rinsed and scrubbed and washed and repeat for a good ten minutes until he felt himself clean enough as to keep last night's reminders enclosed in the sphere of his brain and definitely out of his skin: he didn´t want to shock himself with suspicious sticky patches he hadn´t noticed before here and there during the day, specially not during the fight.

"Moss head."

Not surprisingly at all, his call went either unheard or ignored. He could've probably tried again, he could´ve probably tried to shake the swordsman out of his profound slumber, but, of course, he settled for a medium-strength kick in the gut that managed both to startle and to wake Zoro up. Could´ve been worse, really, he could´ve gone for a full-force one, but he was somewhere in between a bad and a good mood, so he thought he´d be nice and keep it neutral.

"What the fuck!" Zoro barked as soon as he jumped in bed, prepared for an attack only to realize that it was a certain annoying blonde that was standing in front of him, towel wrapped around his bare hips and hair wet.

"It´s kind of about time you woke the fuck up already if we don´t want to be late for the match. Plus, I could use some help with Chopper´s cream, so stop photosynthesizing and start functioning."

"Do you _always_ need to be a prick? Don't you get fucking tired of it?" Zoro groaned with his face plastered to the pillow, creating the visual effect of a ball of moss sprouting from the fabric, which would have amused Sanji hadn't he been caught in between a profoundly irritated mood and a weird overall calmness that had his particular sense of humor partially numbed.

"You are not waking up," he helpfully observed. And it was a warning, really, but Zoro didn't seem to get the underlying tone in that statement if his next answer was anything to go by.

"Give me a break."

Next thing he knew his butt had hit the ground and a groan escaped his throat, his legs still tangled in the sheets.

"I´m going to _murder_ you," Zoro threatened as soon as he managed to sit up in the most dignified and threatening way he could muster. Because, really, what a shitty way to start the day. He was already fuming. And it only got worse when a jar he didn´t see coming his way hit his forehead with a 'clack'.

"No. You're going to apply the cream for me. Come on, we don´t want to be late," Sanji insisted with a bored expression as he watched Zoro get a hold of the jar and proceed to incinerate Sanji's figure with a glare that promised pain. One of those glares Sanji was more than used to and so didn´t bug him one bit.

"The fuck is your problem!"

"I don´t have any problem asides from the fact that I still haven't figured out how the fuck you grow moss on your head, but that's neither here or there. You, on the other hand, need to stop whining and get started with the day, else I'm leaving you behind," the blonde replied quite nonchalantly. Not that Zoro couldn´t hear the low key little-shit undertone in his voice. Which only fueled his urges to strangle him. "Come on, grass head, we don't have all day!"

Zoro proceeded to growl, scowl, groan, insult, curse and growl again as he stood up, but he ended up approaching Sanji with the jar in hand and the mental promise that he wouldn't kill the cook just yet. They needed to get through the competition. He'd be able to slice him to pieces afterwards. Plus, he was too sleepy and drained to try anything now.

"This is all your damn fault," he groaned as he pushed Sanji's upper back with his hand flat and intent on _not_ avoiding a slap in order to make him turn around. Sanji obliged with a smirk, not really caring about the harsh treatment but rather enjoying how he had managed to piss Zoro off big time first thing in the morning. His life goals needed to be double-checked, probably, but he could leave that for when he wasn't enjoying Zoro's suffering.

"How is your brain being slow as fuck my fault?" he shot back, and Zoro heard the smile.

"You started that stupid argument last night and kept me arguing with you for a fucking _hour_, bastard, we were meant to _sleep_," Zoro continued complaining, more because of the fact that he was feeling grumpy and annoyed as hell than because he had an actual problem with that. "Now I can't even open my eyes."

"Doesn't make that much of a difference, does it? One of them is already permanently closed and the other is squinting more often than not so, really-"

"Shut up," Zoro groaned as he held a mini-fight with the jar in order to open it. The lid was kind of stuck and decidedly unwilling to move an inch no matter how much pressure or what rotation angle he used, and he had a feeling that Sanji had something to do with it if his general asshole attitude that morning was any hint.

"Plus, you could've just ignored me, it's your own fault that you can't get over a taunt and have to turn it into world war."

"Don't you dare put the blame on me, bastard, it was your fucki-"

"Plus, mine is bigger, so there wasn't a point on you arguing back to start with. Kind of your own fault, really."

"I'm not going to humor this argument ever again, but it's _not_ bigger. End of. Now stop fucking talking already," Zoro snapped, punching Sanji's shoulder for good measure. The show of self-restraint he was showcasing was admirable, in all honesty. He was surprised he hadn't yet killed the blonde.

His half sleepy brain felt grateful when Sanji decided not to reply and shut up after that. He could deal with trying to ignore the smug smile he knew Sanji was flashing, but he honestly didn't think he could stand any more of Sanji's taunts first thing in the morning without killing him.

Zoro carefully hooked a finger inside the towel wrapped around Sanji's hips and lightly tugged at it to lower it enough as to have good access to the wound in his lower back. It would've been a mindless action if it hadn't been for the fact that, through the small contact against Sanji's skin, he felt the other tensing a bit and his train of thought was derailed when he realized how gentle and… _intimate_ that gesture had come out without him as much as registering it. It was stupid, really, it was just an insignificant touch, but if Sanji's now tense muscles or the way all joking aura had disappeared from his stance were anything to go by, the blonde had felt the awkwardness of it as well. It had come out so natural, though. Zoro wouldn't have even realized hadn't Sanji subtly reacted the way he had.

Zoro frowned at Sanji's nape, forcing the stupid awkward feeling to go away as he proceeded to apply the cream on the wound, suddenly self-conscious of the way he was touching the blonde. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the last time he had been tending to Sanji's wound things had escalated to a damn jerk-off session in the arena's bathroom, a scene that suddenly started replaying in his mind. Or maybe it had something to do with the fact that, just a few hours ago, he had been touching Sanji's skin in a much different context, not exactly in an innocent way. Zoro frowned harder and willed the images to go away, telling himself this wasn't the moment for that bullshit.

"You better not be staring at my butt."

Zoro blinked and stared at the back of Sanji's head, coming back to reality and getting pissed off fast enough. "I am most certainly _not_ staring at your butt."

Sanji huffed and Zoro huffed back, quickly retreating his cream-coated fingers from where they had been rubbing Sanji's skin with what he now realized was too much gentleness for him. Which he efficiently corrected by slapping Sanji's shoulder considerably loudly. "Done."

"Asshole."

"Can you tend to the rest of your wounds or do you also need a babysitter?"

A kick in the shin was the only response he received before Sanji walked in the wardrobe's direction with the intention to pick his outfit for that day while ignoring Zoro's threats and insults as the swordsman made a quick retreat to the bathroom, scowling for good measure.

All the while, Zoro decidedly ignored the way the tips of his fingers felt warm where he had been touching Sanji's skin, and he _definitely_ ignored the slight stiffness down south, because, you know, fucking _no_.

But, most of all, he tried not to think too much about how nasty Sanji's back wound was currently looking. He could just hope the way it looked didn't mean anything health wise. He could just hope it wasn't getting significantly worse. He just hoped it would let Sanji get through the fight, at least.

* * *

"I'll take you to your waiting room."

Sanji raised an amused eyebrow at the bald man who had picked them up at the hotel after having a very much needed breakfast. A pretty decent one if Sanji's opinion was to be taken into account, which it should.

He had led them back to the stadium, which was still noticeably empty, and was now leading them through its underground corridors with an occasional stare that gave away that he pitied them. Zoro wondered if it was because of the fact that he knew about the twins' abilities, which they didn't know yet, or because he didn't know his and Sanji's well enough as to even think they _may_ win.

"Not only do we get a luxury hotel room for free but now we have a private waiting room as well?" he heard Sanji comment by his side, amusement badly hidden. "Looks like we are important."

Zoro rolled his eyes and he could feel their guide doing the exact same thing in front of them. Sanji was alarmingly chill, his mood too increasingly good and sarcastic for it to be any real reflection of how he really felt. Zoro himself was on edge. He normally craved fights, he was thirsty as fuck when it came to a challenge and he'd give away his other eye and one or two of his limbs for a good breathtaking battle, but that did change every time something else was at _real_ risk. Whenever his nakama were in serious danger, every time it wasn't only his own life at stake, the thrill subsided and remained in a framed background he couldn't quite erase, but still gave space to the kind of seriousness that only worry awakened in him. Today he couldn't even feel the thrill. It was there in the way his fingers tingled and his stomach churned but, as they were being led to the dressing room, he was forced to admit that it wasn't excitement but plain worry that was igniting his insides. Worry because Sanji's condition was nowhere near good, not if he had to start straining his body, and they were fighting a damn woman who would only need to see through Sanji in order to find their weakest spot and use it against them. And the one who'd have it worst if that happened was, of course, Sanji. He could just imagine the bastard refusing to protect his own back if that meant counterattacking Aila's attack, and he could only picture how bad that would end.

And, for how real their problems were this time around, Sanji was sure as hell trying to play tough and nonchalant, which was never a good thing. Trying-to-play-it-cool Sanji often meant careless Sanji, a version of the blonde that would put more effort in trying to appear to have control over the situation so that others wouldn't worry than to properly defend himself.

And, since he knew that wasn't good for the team, specially not for Sanji, (and, maybe, just maybe, he was kind of falling back into his Sanji obsession problem once again), he slammed Sanji against the door of their assigned room as soon as their guide left with the reminder that he'd come to pick them up when everything was ready.

"What the fuck?" Sanji barked when his shoulder blades hit the hard surface. It's not like Zoro had been forceful, the gesture had been aggressive in nature enough as to send the message but that's as far as the harshness of it went. He had made sure it was Sanji's shoulders and not his whole back that hit the door, he had made sure it wasn't too hard, and he had even used the grasp he had on Sanji's shirt to pull him back to him a bit almost as soon as flesh had made contact with wood. Which they both were sharp enough to notice, but it's not like any of them would go out of his way to comment on something that was clearly too considerate to be coming from Zoro towards the blonde.

"Are you sure you can do this?"

"What are you talking about?"

Sanji was clearly pissed off. He hated Zoro being overprotective or even low-key protective at all with him, he didn't want him showing concern in any way, it just made him feel weak, and he very much knew where Zoro was going with this.

"I've seen you limping all the way here. And you swallowed three fucking pills just before leaving the hotel, don't even try to deny it. What the hell do you think you are doing? If you can't do this just say so, but I'm not letting you overdose or play this game when you are just about to fuck up because you don't know your own limits."

Wow, that had come out more like a badly concealed concerned lecture than he would've liked, but there it went.

He could see in Sanji's eyes both the surprise and the outrage. He had probably not expected Zoro to see him swallowing that shit but, guess what, Zoro was in the same damn room and, well, had a functioning eye left, so _yeah_, he had fucking seen it and the only reason he hadn't commented on it until now was because he had told himself that he wasn't the cook's mom. Such a shame that his motives ended up being washed away as soon as the blonde's behavior was enough to tick him off. It's not like Sanji had done anything particularly worrying or worth the outburst, that if you didn't count what was probably an overdose of painkillers or whatever shit he was ingesting as particularly worrying, but the way he kept limping even through the medicine effects and how he put active effort into playing it cool as if nothing happened, just as Sanji would _always_ do, somehow managed to get Zoro in a pretty sour mood and awaken the _imperial_ need to meddle in Sanji's business, which by now he knew he shouldn't do but, yeah, that was Zoro's self-control waving goodbye at him recently.

"Mind your fucking business, I am fine and I can do this shit. Don't you dare patronize me. It's you who should know his own limits, it's not like I am sticking my nose where I don't have to, why don't _you_ fucking respect that?"

Zoro registered Sanji's words and it was a bit like a déjà vu. It's not like Sanji hadn't reminded him of how much he was stepping out of their boundaries in that relationship with the way he kept making Sanji the center of his worries, it's not like he hadn't repeated similar lines to himself every time he found himself worrying about the cook, who he knew was capable of overcoming that and more. And he had definitely known he had that answer coming, but maybe it's just that he needed to hear it. Maybe it's just that he needed Sanji's judgmental glare and reality-charged words to calm his own anxiety, to keep his worries at bay, because it was definitely not his place to freak out about Sanji's condition when Sanji himself was making an effort not to.

But then again, that aside, he had a match to win and it was a match he needed to win _with_ Sanji, so he kind of felt justified when he demanded Sanji to be honest with his own limitations. It was team member's duties to give Sanji a warning, really. Yes, that sounded better than him freaking out about Sanji's wellbeing again. It was partly true, as well, so it could be used as a just excuse in his brain's opinion.

"I am just making sure you are not about to mess up. This is serious, Sanji," he shot back with a frown, his eye not leaving Sanji's in an attempt to keep the warning exactly where he had intended it to be to start with and not where he knew it was going with his small obsession playing a part in it.

"I told you I won't," Sanji growled. And his eyes could be only read as 'done'. "Make sure _you_ don't fuck up. You are by far more distracted than I am, recently. Keep whatever the fuck is messing with your brain at bay until we are done with it, is that clear enough?"

How he managed to be the one being scolded when his initial intention was to scold Sanji instead was something he couldn't quite understand, but what he _did_ understand was Sanji's tone. _That_ was crystal clear. Sanji was saying more than he was wording and Zoro could totally get the message. Both Zoro and Sanji knew that 'whatever the fuck is messing with your brain' wasn't an unknown equation. It was related to Sanji in a fundamental way neither of them liked one bit, but the thing is that Sanji had noticed and he was letting Zoro know. Whatever it was, it _had_ to go away. And he didn't only mean during the course of the fight. Sanji wanted whatever the hell Zoro's issue was with the cook to go away for good. Neither of them needed to be a genius to see how out of place and foreign and dangerous Zoro's out-of-character concern towards Sanji could be. Far more than jerking off, far more than whatever physical agreement they had reached the night before. The over-worry and protectiveness _had_ to disappear, that's exactly what Sanji was saying. And Zoro got it as clear as day. Such a shame that he had ordered that to himself enough times as to write an encyclopedia series that not even Robin could ever finish reading, yet he hadn't managed to make it go away.

But, instead of letting Sanji know that last small detail, and instead of trying to get back to the initial topic which was Sanji's health, he simply nodded.

"Whatever. But if you are doing this I am expecting no less than your 120%," he groaned as he let go of Sanji, playing dumb as he would often do when he didn't know what to do around Sanji anymore.

When weird stuff like this happened, often stupidly initiated by Zoro himself, Zoro ended up feeling the need to cover everything up with a thin and weak normality aura. He was just now realizing this annoying habit of his, but it was definitely worrying that someone as straightforward as him would end up being so half-assedly muddy around Sanji, even when they had managed to come out clear to each other in a pretty raw way last night.

Zoro didn't like the way he still felt that the issue, while much better and definitely and _consistently_ patched up with a good healthy dose of honesty (and, well, hormones and now acknowledged lust), was yet to be properly addressed. He didn't like how, despite the huge improvement they had made and despite how much relieved their consciences were now that they had come out clear to each other, he still felt that something had been left hanging, that something deeper than whatever physical issues they had with each other kept low-key bugging him when he found himself doing and feeling stuff he wasn't supposed to be doing or feeling around the blonde. It was mainly that totally out-of-place over-worry, but it was bothering him enough as to wonder where the fuck it came from and why the fuck he, a man who was usually in complete control of his emotions and urges, couldn't get passed it but was rather _driven by_ it in his actions and outbursts. That wasn't like him at all, and Sanji had noticed that as well, which was worrying in itself. How someone who generally didn't give a fuck had come to be a mass of perpetual concern was something incomprehensible to Zoro, especially given the fact that he had always thought he knew himself pretty well, which he now found out he didn't.

"Fuck you. You are not getting less than 200%, get your shit together and give your exact same."

Zoro blinked at Sanji's response, the blonde's defying tone calming his anxiousness down, because this time around it sounded less like a façade and more like Sanji's actual badass-self. Which was good news. He really did need Sanji at his 200% in this battle, else they were fucked.

"Whatever the hell is those twins' trick, I am the one taking Aila down, are we clear on this?"

Sanji frowned at him, annoyance clearly showing through. Zoro's statement had been more of a strategic demand, but he still didn't like that the swordsman had to take it upon himself to make sure Sanji didn't get his ass kicked by a woman.

If Zoro was on edge, Sanji was, at the very least, being driven up the wall in the privacy of his head. It's not like he didn't trust his skills even when wounded: that would have merely bugged him had it only been his wounds noted down in his list of problems. No, it was Aila that had his stomach twisting in an uncomfortable knot. And it wasn't the kind of knot he was used to around women. No, it was a warning twisting, a reminder that he'd be gambling with his ultimate weakness in the arena. He had always known he had a problem with women but he had always been calmly accepting of that. However, ever since Nami got hurt and his morals had been put at stake when they had been the cause of him not being able to protect someone he loved, things had changed. Needless to remember how bad he had had it at the very beginning, how badly it had affected him and how that had crushed his confidence and led him to a self-despising well only Zoro had been able to drag him out of when circumstances had been about to break Sanji irreparably.

After that, he had been able to distance himself from the problem so that he could acknowledge it from the objectiveness realm instead of letting the weight of his weakness consume him, which was alright, but now he was as aware as ever of his limits, and he knew they were huge when a woman was involved. Now, every time he faced that complication, his insides churned in a reminder of that defeated feeling that had once taken over him. He was strong and clever enough as not to let it control him and paralyze him as it once did, he was cold-headed enough as to regard it as what it was: a limit he had to live with and outwit. But it still intimidated him, it still made the roots of dread take his insides and turn them into a roller coaster, it still managed to diminish his confidence and make him know in advance that the reasons he could very well be defeated for would be his own damn fault.

That's why he needed to play it cool, that's why he needed to get rid of the extra trouble that his damn wounds were, that's why he didn't need Zoro worrying about them. He needed Zoro to be focused as ever, he needed Zoro to forget about his back and to be ready to fill in when Sanji was restrained by limits that weren't physical. He could deal with that damn back wound, he could fucking endure the pain, he honestly wouldn't even mind if it wasn't just another difficulty to face in a situation where he was already at disadvantage. _But_ he couldn't deal with the limits he had imposed on himself, and that was fucked up because, as much as he still firmly stood by his morals no matter the outcome for him, he knew that his failures would be his own fault and he wasn't going to do anything to change that.

And Zoro knew it as well, and Sanji could understand why Zoro wasn't all that fond of this battle and why Zoro would feel the need to double-check on Sanji, but his slightly crumbling confidence didn't need that at this point. That battle was going to suck and, for the first time in a long, long while, he wasn't all that thrilled to fight. While that battle meant very much needed income and a route of escape for the crew, it was only a reminder of his own boundaries to him. It was something he could very much live without, but it was apparently not something he was going to skip.

"I am taking Aila down," Zoro repeated when he received no answer. The way Sanji was restrainedly pacing around the room in silence while oozing stress wasn't exactly comforting either.

"Yes, yes, whatever," Sanji growled, his mind still half set on his inner musings. His brain had always been somewhat hyperactive, which he didn't mind, especially with how it had gotten the crew out of trouble several times now, when nobody else saw the big picture like Sanji did. But it also tended to go into inner rants that fed themselves in a never-ending spiral, just like now, and those where the times where Sanji wished he'd have a button somewhere to disconnect his brain before it gave him a headache.

"Now what?"

Sanji was dragged out of his train of thought again as his eyes lazily went back to Zoro's and locked with his stare in a deadpan expression.

"What."

"I mean, what are we supposed to do now?" Zoro clarified with a scowl. Sanji was sure out of it for how in control and careless he had appeared to be in front of their guide.

Sanji took his deadpan expression to a whole new level and Zoro scrunched his nose, knowing Sanji's sass was about to display.

"Were you even listening when that damn guide gave us instructions three minutes ago or does your mossy brain not register human language?"

Zoro frowned harder.

"I was listening," he growled.

"Then you must've heard that we need to wait until they come to pick us up," Sanji snapped with a raised eyebrow and a look that portrayed just how much of an idiot he thought Zoro was.

"You probably want to have those mood swings and bad temper of yours checked," Zoro muttered in sheer annoyance, making an effort not to feel as ridiculed as Sanji was trying to make him feel. Just for the record, he was failing miserably. He was quite surprised that he had just come up with such a mild answer to Sanji's overall shitty snapping, but he also had his mind half there half not.

"Says the one who repeatedly and randomly slams me against walls," Sanji growled back, and nope, Zoro was decidedly _not_ embarrassed when he heard those words come out of Sanji's mouth because, well… _well_.

"Whatever," he groaned as he sat down in a rather comfortable sofa placed in the right side of the waiting room.

He watched as Sanji made his way to the other end of the room and chose a chair to sit on as he lit himself a cigarette, his legs crossed in a deliberate leisurely way. Zoro made sure not to look at the blonde's hands as he performed the simple action. Sanji's hands were always steady but they definitely gave him away when he felt he wasn't in control of the situation, which was almost never. Those were the only times where his hands weren't steady anymore, where they trembled or looked half as strong as they normally would, a sight that always managed to unsettle the swordsman. It was like watching something that wasn't supposed to be happening, it felt like a piece of glass stuck in the sole of your feet while you are walking, it was just _not_ okay. And Zoro didn't need to know if they were shaking or not, really, because he definitely didn't need the knowledge of the extent of Sanji's anxiousness for that fight. He was anxious enough himself as to risk taking a look at Sanji's potential inner turmoil. So he kept Sanji's hands out of his sight range for a while, just in case. He didn't need the extra stress.

They didn't talk for the whole hour they were kept waiting inside that room, which felt like it was too big for both of them. At first there was absolute silence, the tense kind of silence that allowed them to be fully aware of the knot in their stomachs. The kind of silence that makes one's thoughts resound too loudly in one's head, the kind of silence that weights more and more the more it stretches, the kind of silence that had them on edge the more it lasted. At some point they started to hear the crowd above them and, as muffled as the murmur was, they could feel the intensity and imagine how loud it actually was outside. But not even the crowd's buzz managed to kill the deafening silence reigning in that room. They should've probably been bickering and fighting one another, that was their go-to distressing routine, but that wasn't about to happen anytime soon. They were too aware of the actual risk of what they were about to do, all circumstances taken into account, as to take it lightly. The fact that Zoro had had that outburst didn't help their case either. Sanji was all snappy and bitchy whenever his temper was put to test, but when he felt _actually_ angry or personally offended he would mostly remain silent and restrained unless he was in a condition to start an all-out fight, which he couldn't do right now if he wanted to spare himself for the fight, which he very much needed. Zoro knew he had pushed the exact wrong buttons to get Sanji in the later mood and so that's what he got in retaliation. Absolute silence and tension. Because, with his attitude, Zoro had, again, undermined Sanji's pride by making him feel that he needed to be taken care of, and that was something Sanji couldn't stand.

Add the fact that the dreaded battle was just about to happen and that the stretching silence was leaving their brains room to overthink about other random issues in order to kill time, namely and mostly their encounter last night and their agreement, which weighted more the more they _really_ thought about it, and you had a pretty explosive cocktail of stress caged in that room.

So when the man who had guided them from the hotel to the waiting room that morning came back an hour later and informed them that they should get going in five minutes, Zoro thanked whatever there was to thank up there because, really, he had been about to burst.

"About time," he groaned.

Sanji gave him a look but, if his faked chill expression was anything to go by, he was just as ready to combust.

Their guide motioned for them to follow him and Zoro did so fast enough, wanting to get it over with already. He frowned as soon as he walked out of the door and his instincts didn't register the trademark clacking of Sanji's dress shoes behind him. When he turned around he found Sanji rummaging around his pockets with a scowl, standing still right where he had been sitting until now.

"Oi, cook," he called, his tone harsh enough as to let the blonde know that he knew what he was doing.

Sanji lifted his gaze from where he had it fixed and knitted his brows when he met Zoro's judging stare. "Get going, I'll catch you in two seconds," he muttered as he went back to ignoring Zoro and trying luck with his back pockets since he didn't seem to find what he wanted in his front ones.

"You've already ingested three of them," Zoro stated, his tone tougher by the second. To which Sanji led his gaze back to Zoro and glared at him, willing him to leave him alone.

"_Get going_. I'll catch you in two seconds," Sanji repeated, more like a programmed robot would do, his voice not able to conceal how pissed off he was that Zoro wouldn't mind his own business once and for all.

Zoro could've pushed a bit more, he even thought of snatching the painkillers' jar he knew Sanji was looking for as soon as the blonde had grabbed it and avoid him overdosing any further, but then again, Sanji had been pretty clear on the fact that Zoro's mothering him had to stop, which Zoro agreed on. Plus, Sanji never took painkillers, which meant that, if he did in such a needy way, he probably needed them more than he let out. Which was bad news.

But Zoro told himself that Sanji was an adult and perfectly capable of taking care of himself and making decisions on his own so, as much as he wasn't all that okay to let it be, he ended up huffing and leaving him alone to do whatever the hell he wanted.

"Just make sure you don't get all drowsy and shit. Keep your senses sharp."

Sanji scowled at the door that Zoro closed behind him as he exited and willed the knot in his stomach to go away. He knew he was gambling with a lot of shit in that game, and he knew that potentially overdosing wasn't the smartest idea, but his back had been increasingly hurting even as he was sitting down, even after having ingested three painkillers that morning, and the only thing he was positive of was the fact that he couldn't let the wound get in the way. He trusted Zoro to take care of Aila and get the worst part of the fight for him out of his way, but he also knew how easy to read he was around women, and he knew how fast things could change if Aila managed to see through his nature. If that happened, there was only so much Zoro could do to get her out of his way and, if that happened, Sanji couldn't have his back bothering him.

So when he found the jar in his chest pocket (he didn't remember putting it there, he sure had been out of it that morning), he poured three pills in his hand straight away. He was about to swallow them all when Zoro's judging glare made an appearance in his head and made him stop in his tracks. A pissed-off huff escaped his lips as he wondered why the fuck he'd let the bastard cloud his judgement and make him second-guess shit, but he ended up putting two of the pills back in the jar and swallowing only one of them, hoping it would be enough. He had taken three of them already anyway, so it should be enough… if it wasn't he would kick the moss head's ass so hard he would be feeling it for weeks, he swore.

* * *

If they had once thought the crowd's roar was deafening it was nothing compared to what it was now. Zoro's brow twitched when his ears took the first wave and his eardrum complained with a sharp pang in response.

The sun was high enough as for their shadows to be almost invisible and stay right under their feet, not daring to elongate their figures on the ground as they would do when the sun wasn't right above them, burning unusually hot and making sweat pearls gather in their foreheads and lower backs almost as soon as they stepped the arena's ground.

And if the roaring now was overwhelming, the way it escalated right when they heard the twins' names announced was breathtaking.

Sanji blinked a bit when his gaze focused on Aila and Allen as they stepped inside the arena with a smirk. The kind of smirk that made him keep his guard especially high. The kind of smirk that presented a threat.

He thought he heard Luffy over the crowd's cheering, but this time his brain couldn't allow itself the three seconds it took to decipher what he was howling and getting embarrassed. He couldn't afford them. Both Luffy's bawling and the crowd's chants got reduced to the very bottom background of what his senses registered, barely becoming a persistent and solid buzz, one he could feel in the way his bones reverberated with the roar shaking the arena. The reverberation was good, though, it provided him with a rhythm he could accommodate his footing to. The trademark tapping of the tip of his dress shoe started to lazily awaken a beat as he lit himself another cigarette and analyzed the twins. Aila had a big-ass sword perched at her back and was lighting herself a cigarette just as Sanji was doing, her smirk the most eye-catching trait in her whole figure. Sanji didn't like it one bit. His eyes slowly roamed Allen's way only to find his chest covered with bullet stripes and a gun in each of his hands. A better look gave away a larger and longer kind of pistol held at his back and two handguns well kept by his hips. Okay, that made things all the better: Zoro did have a plausible excuse to fight Aila, one that wouldn't make her suspect of Sanji's true weakness right away just by the opponent choice. They both were swords masters, it was only natural that they'd fight each other. As for Allen, Sanji was used to fight against gunmen and was definitely fast enough, wounded or not, to avoid any direct hits. All good so far. It would be fantastic if there wasn't something bugging him, though. The twins were a sensation. They had smashed all their opponents without as much as breaking a sweat. There had to be something else. It couldn't only be guns and a sword. There had to be something special about them that made them unbeatable. And Sanji couldn't, for the life of him, pinpoint what it was. Were they devil fruit users, maybe? It was a high possibility, but they were too armed as for that to be the obvious case. So what? What was there?

And just as his brain was tuning down the commentator's introductions and his head was shuffling with different courses of analysis of their enemy, his train of thought got absolutely and brusquely halted as he met Aila's gaze. Now he realized she had been intently looking at him all the time ever since they stepped the arena's floor. The way she was staring at him when he met her gaze also told him that her smirk hadn't been some kind of unconscious confident gesture nor one to please the crowd. No: the smirk was solely for him. The moment their eyes met, he just knew. And suddenly, even if he didn't understand how that had happened, he understood what was going on. His heart crawled to his throat and his stomach twisted in a knot, and he felt himself gulping and his body go cold as realization dawned on him.

"She knows," he muttered, his voice not managing to conceal the alarm in it.

Zoro, who had silently been doing his own observations of their opponents, was dragged out of his small pool of concentration as Sanji's tone hit him. He had been too immersed in his own thoughts as to register what Sanji's mumbled words were, but he had definitely gotten the tone with what felt like a punch in the stomach, nervousness taking a hold of him in a sudden rush.

"What?" he half asked, his voice a bit lost as he was still trying to get his brain cells together from where they had been to properly listen to Sanji. Something was _really_ wrong, this much he could tell. And he could totally feel it just by the way Sanji's voice had rung in his head.

Sanji didn't get the time to answer as the commentator shrieked the words that signaled the beginning of the game and a horn resounded through the whole arena, almost leaving them deaf.

And then their attention was somewhere else since the twins had already launched at them.

"Shit!" Sanji barked as he forced himself to focus and stop freaking out.

And just as he was rearranging his thoughts so as to keep them blank from his sudden panicky session, he kicked himself Allen's way as fast as he could, hoping with everything he had that he'd get to Allen before Aila got to him.

That was the only way out he could think of, and it failed.

He didn't see Aila coming, he swore she had been running in his initial direction before he cut a sudden diagonal towards her brother. She couldn't have possibly reacted that quickly or be that fast. But she was suddenly in his face and swinging her enormous sword against his chest, to which he barely reacted planting a heel on the ground and letting the abrupt pull throw him to the floor. Next thing he knew Allen was somewhere else and far away from him, Aila taking all of his attention unless he wanted to die a young dead.

Panic emerged again, pulling at the corners of his stomach in a painful way as he tried to get out of her way and reach Allen, but she cut all of his attempts with a blow of her sword right where he had intended to go. His eyes widened as he did his best to get the fuck out because, shit, all he could do was duck and jump around, and she seemed to be waiting for his raise or fall right before he had a chance to elaborate a move that didn't consist in doing the first thing instinct told him to do to save his sorry ass.

And he knew he was fucked.

Aila had read through him. He didn't know how and he didn't care about that, the thing is that she had known from the start and now she got him and he wasn't capable of doing anything asides from dodging and trying to get away, which wasn't working either.

He ducked under one of her swings and let his body roll around her to get to her back and put some distance between them, but a blast of pain got him mid-standing up and sent him flying away with a deep cut that went from his left shoulder to his chest. Sanji screamed in shocl and held the wound as blood started spurting out the way it would do right after the hit. He was yet clenching his teeth when he opened his eyes with a snarl. Thank his lucky star he did so, else he would've had his head chopped off. He gasped and threw himself to the side, Aila's sword creating an indentation against the wall and getting stuck there for good measure. Sanji looked at it with shocked eyes as he scrambled up to his feet, his gaze quickly sweeping the arena in search of Aila, who was running his way at incredible speed after having thrown her weapon at him.

"Holly shit," he found himself muttering as he kicked the air and got away from the sword, knowing that she'd have to go and get it before going after him.

Suddenly, her pace slowed down and she started quick walking towards it, all rush gone. Sanji couldn't get over how she was smirking at him, her head turned towards his direction as she made her way towards the sword, almost as if she was mocking him, telling him that she was in no rush whatsoever.

Sanji didn't give a fuck, he just ran away. He ran away towards the other side of the stadium, ignoring as best as he could the pain starting to act in his lower back and the burning one hitting his shoulder with a deafening beat with every step he took.

He was _definitely_ fucked.

He looked back at where Aila was about to get a hold of her sword and then back at the rest of the arena in front of him, trying to locate Zoro amidst the dancing white spots crowding his sight.

And, sure enough, Zoro was fighting Allen. More like Allen got Zoro. Something was going wrong in his portion of the fight as well. He knew it because, if that hadn't been the case, Zoro would've been in Aila's face and freeing Sanji from this torture already. He knew what was up, he knew Sanji couldn't possibly fight Aila, and yet he wasn't there by Sanji's side but at the other end of the pit taking care of his own fight.

Something was definitely wrong.

And, suddenly, Aila was on him and he went back to dodging in an almost desperate manner, trying to figure out what was going on and failing miserably as he tried to survive the assault he couldn't defend himself from. The only clear thought in his head at that moment was the fact that the twins had managed to separate them and send them to opposite sides of the huge stadium, their team strategy completely invalidated the moment they had lost sight of each other. The twins sure knew their fucking game.

* * *

Zoro swore he had been fast when he ran towards Aila in order to quickly set her as his opponent before tables could turn. But then she had turned a weird angle in her race and, suddenly, she was in front of Sanji, none of them having foreseen that move. And then Sanji was being driven away from him, and then Zoro was furiously running after Aila, but, before he knew it, Allen was shooting a death wall in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. Zoro had run left then, trying to get rid of the chase Allen's bullets were playing with him, just to find his path blocked everywhere he decided to go, no matter what weird angle, sudden change of strategy or turn he tried. The bullets were there before he ever got there, and then he was changing directions but so was the gunfire. And then Allen was on him and all he could do to avoid being shot in the face was to duck and try to get away.

He couldn't get passed Allen's wide smile as he watched him run around, as he shot right where Zoro was heading to, keeping him where he wanted to.

What the fuck.

Zoro growled and tried an attack on Allen, letting him get close enough so as to duck and swing his sword at the twin's legs, but Allen's move was even graceful when he stepped out of the attack range, almost as if he had seen it coming. Next thing he felt was a lashing pain against his hip as a bullet grazed the skin there and made him hiss, and he realized he had been too careless. Zoro took a few steps back and glared at Allen, who was giving him an amused look. What the fuck was up with that guy? What in the world was his issue?

And he swore the whole thing would've been half as unsettling and nerve-wracking hadn't he been freaking out over having Sanji fighting a damn woman at the other fucking end of the bloody arena without him being able to do anything about it. Those twins had been fast to separate them and they hadn't realized until they had found the other far enough so as to barely distinguish what he was doing.

"Fuck," he muttered.

Allen smiled wider and shot at his feet with a lazy gesture, almost as a warning.

"Keep your attention where it belongs to, you don't want to be careless," he reminded him. The way his mouth contorted could've been taken as gentle and nice enough, but Zoro took it for everything but that.

Allen was having fun at his expense and Zoro knew. Allen knew something that he didn't, that's what the damn smile meant. Allen wasn't even trying. Zoro looked at him and bit his lip, trying to think. But he was given no more break as Allen started shooting his way again and Zoro jumped back and then to the left only to have bullets impacting right where he had been about to place his last step hadn't his instincts told him to stop the fuck up with his leg mid-air.

The he heard Sanji scream and his nerves got out of control. This was going bad and he was making it worse by letting himself freak out like that, which he knew, but Sanji's scream tore through his eardrums and hit him hard enough as to make him barely be able to register the next shooting wave coming and avoid it.

_Damn, keep your shit together, bastard, _he mentally gnawed at himself as he set all of his efforts in regaining some self-control and focusing.

Shit, if only he had Sanji near, but he could barely see what he was doing and Allen wasn't letting him take a single step close to him.

When he had entered the arena he had been tense, but he had been keeping everything under absolute control. It had been Sanji's sudden alarmed tone that had led to this soon-to-be breakdown. The way he had spoken, Zoro had known something was utterly wrong, but just as alarm kicked in they had been forced into action and everything had happened in a desperate blur in which he had found himself far away from Sanji without even knowing how that had happened, which meant he still hadn't been able to take a hold of himself as everything had been fast and going from bad to worse in a couple of minutes.

_Focus, focus, focus,_ he kept repeating as he dodged hit after hit, just barely and almost being hit with every next step he took.

He needed to focus and get a grasp of what was going on, which he only felt more and more confused about the more minutes that passed.

He had to pull himself together. Then he could go and help Sanji. He mostly needed to shorten the distance between them. Just then he realized that they _needed_ to stick together, else they were fucked.

_Okay, there we go, that's much better_, he thought the moment Allen nonchalantly allowed him a ten-seconds break with a smile and a relaxed posture a few feet away from him that told him that he wasn't going anywhere. _Now you have an initial goal. Get to Sanji. Then you'll think about what comes next. For now, get to Sanji. Get to Sanji. Get to Sanji._

And so he tried, but there was a gunfire wall right in front of him the moment he stepped left after having faked to intend to step right.

Zoro's eye widened as he stepped back again and glared at his opponent. Allen had an eyebrow raised, almost as if he was telling him 'I told you'. How the fuck did he do that? He didn't even let Zoro move. The swordsman pulled at his meditation abilities' strings to calm himself down and clear his mind. There had to be something to it, he just needed to figure out what. Then it'd be easier to move around the twins and land a solid attack. He hadn't managed a single one yet, but he partly blamed it on him not being focused. There had to be something he could do to turn the tables. There had to be some blind spot that he could…

Wait a minute.

Blind spot?

* * *

Sanji fell to the ground and rolled to the side for the millionth time in the last quarter of an hour. He could hear the crowd cheering like crazy over the strangled sounds he was emitting while coughing out dark blood.

For fuck's sake, he had it bad there.

His thigh was bleeding and so was his shoulder, his suit completely messed up. He was fairly sure there was more crimson than whatever original colour there was in his shirt by now. Last hit he took was a kick in the face, which he was fairly sure had earned him a broken nose. Aila was slowly walking towards him, letting her sword mark the ground as she half-lazily dragged it behind her.

Sanji gathered himself together and got to his feet, kicking the air and getting away as fast as he could. Just that his back decided to give in and shot a wave of sharp pain with one of his particularly desperate kicks. And with that, he fell back to the ground with a hard thump as he didn't have time to brace himself for the impact, his back being the first thing to hit the ground, uprooting a raw scream out of his throat as he lost his vision and his hearing abilities in favour of only feeling excruciating pain.

"For fuck's sake!" he cursed with a pained broken yell as his survival instincts tried to make his body drag itself from the floor where it lied, to no avail. "Shit, shit, shit!"

"It's actually a shame."

In the blur of how much it hurt, Sanji managed to catch the words spoken. Next thing he registered was that Aila's voice was too close. Far too close.

And yet all he could do was open his eyes and try to focus them on her. He knew his body well enough as to know that his movements would be sluggish until the wave of pain had receded. It was the kind of hit that got you paralyzed in an almost fetal position without giving you any other option but to lay there. He knew that, if she attacked, he couldn't have gotten away in time even if he tried, so all he could do was to try to focus his stare on her and try to foresee what she was up to, maybe being lucky enough as to have her deliver her blow with a bit of delay, maybe at the moment he could actually do a decent job out of dodging. And so he squinted and willed the pain to recede without much luck. And he waited.

Aila was staring down at him, and she actually looked like she felt the words she was saying. She was smirking knowingly, but a glint in her eyes told him that she actually thought it was a shame. Just when he was about to mentally ask what exactly was a shame, she spoke again, clarifying what she meant, almost as if she was answering his question.

"It's a shame," she repeated. "Your thing with women, that is. You are a formidable fighter, it's a shame that I didn't get to experience what it is like to _really_ fight you."

Sanji's eyes widened slightly.

"But you knew all along, didn't you? That these convictions of yours would ultimately lead you to your defeat. And you've been accepting of that so far. It's admirable, really, but it is also a shame. You could've been so much greater. You may have held a chance in this fight."

Aila's green eyes were piercing him and he swore she was seeing through his soul. He couldn't help but think that she looked breathtakingly beautiful with the sun shining above her hair like a halo. It was a wandering useless thought, but he couldn't help but appreciate that in the confusing ocean of pain that was still taking over his senses and clouding his thoughts. And, in between this haze, something poked his brain cells teasingly.

"How did you know?" he found himself asking.

He had nothing to lose. She was giving him some time right now, almost as if she knew that he wasn't going anywhere, and he was taking it. He needed to buy time and he'd take as much as she'd give him. It was a good thing that she was so sure she'd win. It gave him precious time. Not to plan an escape anymore, he knew he'd try anyway, but to figure her out. There was something about her that bugged him. The way she looked at him felt too invasive, which he had never thought of a woman. The way she took her time to attack at random times struck him as weird. No, they weren't random times. He was positive the breaks were deliberate and planned, they had to be a consequence of something else than her recklessness. He had always found people who talked a lot and waited to deliver the final blow unnecessarily reckless and stupid, he knew how that could end. Yet he had the feeling that Aila's motives were far from the mere need to gloat or an insensitive overdose of confidence. No, there had to be something else. Aila knew what she was doing, she wasn't gambling, it's almost as if…

To his surprise, Aila's smirk changed in response to his question and stretched as silent seconds passed by.

She seemed amused. Truly amused. Almost like an adult who is watching a child try hard and make some slow progress.

"You are getting there," she chuckled.

And, suddenly, as her eyes bored deeper in his in a way that had him feeling bare and exposed, it hit him.

Aila's most dangerous weapon wasn't her sword.

It was something way more difficult to dodge, something far more dangerous. Something they couldn't really fight.

Just as her smile grew wildly wider, he knew his suppositions were spot on.

But he didn't have time to decide what to do about his doomed discovery because, next thing he knew, Aila's sword was falling on him.

**TBC**

* * *

**A/N: **Hiiii! Omg, again, sorry for the late update! Exams are over and so I am getting back my freedom, yaaaay! I really hope you enjoy this chapter! Again, thank you for all of your comments, they always make me really happy and they are really helpful! Have a nice weekend!

Also, OMG, thank you for the 100 followers! It's amazing, thank you very much! :D


	31. Chapter 31 - The Last Millisecond

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**Chapter 31**

**The Last Millisecond**

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Aila's eyes went slightly wide when her sword found resistance mid-blow. Then she smirked, pleased.

Sanji had his leg raised and the sole of his shoe was planted against the edge of the weapon in a way that had modified the angle of the blow so that it stopped where it didn't pierce through his foot.

"Much better," Aila praised, excitement showing through her voice.

Sanji's nose was scrunched in restraint, sweat all over his face, making his skin glisten under the sun. His heartbeat was frantic and all of his instincts were telling him to lower that damn foot. It's not like he had hit Aila, he had just blocked the blow, but everything inside him revolted against the action. Still, there was no way he was letting himself be killed like this, Zoro wouldn't let him live this down even after his burial. A sword was a sword, held by men or women, and it was something he knew how to block. That would have to do until he managed to get to where Zoro was and hand Aila to him, as badly as that settled inside him as well. If he had a choice he would let Aila walk away unharmed; if he had a choice that didn't put anyone else in danger he would even be the one to defend her if someone dared to attack her, but that wasn't the case. They needed this done and over with. It wasn't only him in the picture, there was the crew and how much they needed them to win the prize tantalizing them at the end of the tournament. There was the fact that the twins were out for blood and would either accept their surrender or bite them until they couldn't move or died, nothing else in their plans. They had no choice but to defeat them, especially since they knew they were two to fight exactly until they couldn't stand or died and none of them needed dying right now, when their crew was in a tight spot.

And, well, there was Zoro. If he let himself die in Aila's hands… he didn't even want to picture Zoro's face. Zoro had been pretty clear in the past, several times now, about how he felt about Sanji's attitude towards women; it had been one of their worst disagreements, one that managed to drive Zoro up the wall and act weird around Sanji. He knew, for a fact, that his issue with women was one of Zoro's main issues with Sanji, and he knew that if he let himself die in Aila's hands there would be nothing but disappointment left for Zoro to feel towards him. And something inside him settled just as bad as it did when he had to oppose his will to a woman's when he thought of disappointing Zoro. Why the swordsman's disappointment was such a big deal for Sanji was something he didn't want to know. It had been like this since day one. He'd kick and fight and be annoying as fuck, he'd talk back and tease and insult, he'd do _anything_, but the one thing he wouldn't ever let himself do was disappointing Zoro. It was somewhat of a pride issue, but he just couldn't bring himself to do something that made him feel lesser than the damn moss head. Either they were equals or Sanji had the upper hand, he wouldn't accept anything else. So, nope, no dying in the hands of a woman today _if_ and to the extent he could avoid it. Zoro's virtual judging stare at the back of his mind kept him from giving up already.

Sanji gritted his teeth and counted three before he kicked the sword, forcing Aila to step back, weapon still in hand. The move costed him some of his self-control as his inner-self screamed at him to crawl to her and apologize for such a rude treatment instead of forcing himself to stand up in pain and retreat a bit to put some distance in between them.

Aila was somewhere between amused and disappointed.

"Still not fighting me, I see."

Sanji was busy trying to hold himself straight instead of giving up to the intense back pain, but he still managed to dedicate her a small smile. He could still be polite, couldn't he?

"You are pretty good at reading people, love, I was sure you would have figured that out by now. My apologies for the harsh treatment but I kind of have to survive."

Aila smirked back at him, now predominantly amused. "You know that'll be hard to achieve if the only thing you do is dodge and block. You didn't even block decently, you half-assed it. I'll let you know I can take a blow, sweetheart."

"Doesn't mean I'll deliver one, my flower," Sanji retorted with a smile and a slight reverence that looked like a mocking one. It wasn't mocking, of course, God forbid him to be this rude to a lady.

The way she had been widening her smirk right before Sanji threw his last statement, as if she had known what he was going to say already, helped him confirm his suspicions. If Aila's abilities were somewhere near what he had figured out, they were kind of fucked, but at least now he knew what he had to fight. The only problem was how.

"It's hard to fight, sorry about that," Aila commented as she swung her sword back and forth, a gesture that told Sanji she was getting ready for a blow. Sanji's eyes grew a bit wider at her words. Yes, he was definitely right on his assumptions.

"What's the name of the devil's fruit?" he found himself asking as he started slowly rounding Aila and putting some needed distance between them just as Aila slowly tried to shorten it, both of them looking like caged animals about to jump each other.

"Why do you assume this is the result of a devil's fruit?" Aila questioned, both eyebrows raised.

"What else then, my flower? Witchcraft? Some kind of ancient trick typically taught in Terevera throughout generations?"

Aila chuckled and Sanji complacently smiled back at her, knowing a game being played when he saw one.

"Nah, you were right, it's a devil's fruit. You're a clever one. Most of my opponents are defeated without knowing what they were really fighting against to start with. You were quite fast about it."

"And you have admitted to it quite easily," Sanji retorted as he took two steps back when Aila took two quick ones his way.

They both stopped in their tracks eyeing each other down, Sanji with a half pained half cautious expression, Aila with an amused one.

"That back of yours is giving you shit," she commented.

"Not to be rude, darling, but there's no need for the ability to read other people's minds to notice that. What gave it away, may I ask? My scrunched face or the way I limp or fail in performing some of my moves? You'll have to excuse me, I am a bit curious."

Aila openly laughed at that. Sanji's attitude was as polite as he obliged himself to be with a woman, but he couldn't hide the slight bite and sarcasm in each of his words, which was nothing like how he usually treated the other gender.

"Is this unusual aversion you feel towards me the result of your own frustrations; the fact that I am cornering you and you can't do anything about it; or does it have something to do with the swordsman over there?" Aila taunted. Sanji saw it in her grin. She was provoking him.

Aila's newfound ability to read minds wasn't fun at all. Something in the way she spoke, something in the things she said, the way she read him told him that she saw further than what Sanji acknowledged himself. It wasn't necessarily his most direct or immediate thoughts or intentions that she could read, it was everything surrounding them. Which annoyed him to no end, because the thoughts he kept at bay were _exactly_ meant to be kept at bay, not to be read out loud to him by some invasive fruit user so that he'd have to hear things he didn't let his brain think about.

"Okay, okay, sorry, that was taking it too far. Your issues with Roronoa are your own, I won't bug you any more in that department," Aila cackled as his inner rant went on. Damn he really hated that power of hers. Not that he could voice it out loud, that would be plain rude. "Oh, man, you really dislike me!" Aila exclaimed as she looked back at him with amusement written all over her face. "That's a first for you. Maybe that gives you the right motivation to actually fight back, I am looking forward to that!"

"I don't dislike you, dear, at all, what a thing to say," Sanji masked with what could've been seen as an apologetic smile.

"That is a blatant lie."

"If you are that good at reading minds you should know I can't hate a woman no matter how hard I try," Sanji countered as he lit himself a cigarette, his tone polite. Which was completely true. But it was just as much of a fact that there was something weird about how he felt about Aila. It was something similar to bitterness, but that may have been the result of his apprehension towards her. Aila was scary, as rude as it was to think that of a woman, but it wasn't less certain. Something about Aila settled especially bad inside him, and it was a fact, as much as he wouldn't take it was far as saying he disliked her. He couldn't dislike a woman, that'd be anything but gentlemanly. It's just that there was something he didn't understand about her, something that bugged him, there was something fishy he couldn't quite pinpoint and all of his alarms were ringing at once. It _may_ also be true that Zoro's name in Aila's mouth turned everything bitterer, just as she had implied, but Sanji wasn't about to admit that and it wasn't the main reason for him to feel that way about her. He swore it wasn't.

If the public was wondering what the hell they were doing down there (since all they had done for the last few minutes had been chatting and no one had a way to know what their conversation was about), Sanji didn't give a damn. He was buying time and Aila was letting him do so; he was all but concerned about putting on a show at the moment. She knew he was buying time, that's for sure. The only question was why she was giving it to him. Unless she found some kind of particular satisfaction in trying to tick Sanji off, he couldn't quite explain why she hadn't tried to finish him yet.

"Because you'd just block. It's a waste of time and energy to try anything on you when you already have your response to my possible attacks planned."

Sanji groaned and then mentally apologized for groaning to a lady. Damn, that ability of hers was a pain in the ass. Still, there was something off. Something that didn't quite fit in the picture. They'd have a huge problem trying to counterattack that.

"You will," she smiled.

Then she took three fast steps forward and Sanji could only gasp in surprise at the sudden move and retreat as fast as he could. Which was not enough, because she was definitely too close when he heard Zoro's scream tear through the stadium from the other side of the arena, she was definitely too close the exact moment when his attention switched from her to the sudden sound, when all of his alarms pointed at Zoro, who he could barely see from there. And since she was too close right when his attention had been put out of balance, her sword hit right where she had intended to, cutting across his stomach and only barely missing cutting too deep when Sanji's reflexes kicked in and he curved his spine to avoid the harm mid-hit. Else he would've had his stomach ripped off.

And now it was his broken scream that filled the stadium, and then he was doing what he could to get away as pain was still hitting him, but that seemed to be nowhere near enough once Aila had resumed her assault at blinding speed.

She had known when to attack. She had known it and she had used it against him. But, how? It's not like reading his mind could've led to this result; she had known that the scream would happen and brand her the opportunity to land a solid hit, else he couldn't explain how she had jumped into action three seconds before the opportunity became real at all. How had she known Zoro would be wounded right before he had been? How had she known he'd scream and distract Sanji's attention from her, giving her an opening to attack? Reading minds didn't lead to that, she couldn't have possibly-

"You are getting there," Aila stated right in front of his face as his eyes focused again and his instincts saved him from losing his head.

Sanji scrambled to his feet and far away from her, panting hard with his heart stuck in his throat. Damn, he needed to focus, else he was dead for real.

Something about Aila was slowly changing, though. The more his thoughts went on, the more vicious her attacks turned. He could feel that she was slowly losing her will to play around. Which meant Sanji's thoughts weren't exactly going where she wanted to, no matter how much she seemed to be mock-encouraging him to keep thinking. Sanji frowned. Where was the trick?

* * *

"For fuck's sake!"

Zoro retreated as fast as he could, his vision a sea of black and burning white, as he tried to focus again. A bullet had hit his hip and another had hit his shoulder right before he had avoided the third one piercing his forehead, and he may or may not have screamed, he couldn't quite tell due to the blinding pain, but he could and _did_ hear Sanji's scream following his a second later; and then his attention was lost as he tried to locate Sanji in between his numbing blindness, but he didn't have time to achieve that as another shot got his attention back in time to avoid getting hit a third time.

Oh, they were _so_ fucked.

Zoro groaned as he planted his right foot firmly on the floor, his hip protesting with a roaring flash of pain with the movement. He swung his sword where he sensed Allen was approaching him and apparently got it right as he made Allen retreat, just that he was already retreating a second before he had decided to throw the blow.

What the fuck.

Allen was always ahead of whatever he was about to do. Could he read minds or something? What the hell was the deal with that bastard?

"Tired much?" Allen smirked as he took three steps back and one to the left a few moments before a violent rain of rocks fell right where he had been; consequence of Zoro's missed blow hitting the nearest wall of the stadium and sending pieces flying everywhere.

Zoro blinked as he watched Allen move around, and he squinted at his every movement. A rock fell two centimeters away from where he decided to stop, and he didn't even bat an eyelash. Then he blinked and took two steps forward. Three seconds later, a hand made of marble of what used to be an impressive statue imprinted in the wall fell right where he had been standing.

What. The. Hell.

Zoro was sure as hell capable of dodging flying objects coming his way without breaking a sweat if he was properly focused, but Allen's ability stood a different ground. Zoro moved _with_ it thanks to his instincts; Allen wasn't driven by them, Zoro could tell when instinct played a part in someone's actions, which wasn't Allen's case, nor did he move with it but rather _ahead _of it.

Zoro's mind went into overdrive as many thoughts piled in it, ranging from Sanji's uncertain state to what the fuck was going on with Allen. It just so happened that Allen decided to give him the time to think as he stood still with his arms crossed, his pose relaxed, without any seeming intent to attack. Just that Zoro could sense that he was waiting. What for he didn't know, but the bastard was definitely waiting for something. It wasn't that he decided to mock Zoro and give him extra time in order to make clear who had the upper hand there. No, it wasn't that. Well, maybe that was part of it; Allen totally looked like the self-conceited mocking type. But there was something else behind. And he had been pulling this kind of shit all along the fight.

Zoro kind of wished Sanji was there right now. He had always been faster to figure things out, while Zoro was giving himself a migraine trying to understand what was going on, the clues laid in front of him for him to complete the puzzle, but his brain wasn't cooperating. He had a few ideas, but none of them seemed to be it.

Zoro growled in frustration and launched at Allen only to find that he had already moved to the side and out of his initial range. Zoro harshly stopped mid-sprint and glared at him. Allen hadn't continued moving. The normal course of action, given Zoro's own actions, would have been to keep on moving further away from him. The way Zoro had launched his unfinished attack _couldn't_ possibly have given away that he hadn't been planning on finishing it. Any witness would have read his moves as a sequence he would finish. It had been a bluff from the start, but it was supposed to be a perfect one, no one was supposed to read through it, and Allen should have definitely kept dodging. The faces he could see in the stands looked as surprised as Allen should've felt, just that he looked unfazed by it. Allen wasn't supposed to stop after he had moved to the side, yet he had stopped a second before Zoro had, almost as if he had known that the swordsman had never intended to deliver the second one.

Allen smiled at him. It was a taunting smile, one that ignited all kinds of challenging feelings inside the swordsman, but it was almost patronizing. The guy let out a small chuckle and slowly and casually stepped back, no rush in his movements, as if he knew that Zoro wouldn't move from where he was, and Zoro blinked at him with frustration.

"What the hell?" Zoro found himself muttering, sword still raised mid-movement, his body still and his functioning eye glaring daggers at Allen.

Allen openly laughed at that. Zoro's temper boiled when the brunette shrugged.

"Can you read minds or something?" the swordsman growled, clearly annoyed as fuck. He readjusted his position quite harshly, but Allen didn't seem bothered by the gesture as he didn't react at all, he didn't even look wary.

"Read minds? Nope," the twin grinned. "Nah, that's not me."

Oh, he was definitely patronizing him. That bastard. Zoro would've cut his head off out of anger hadn't he known that the plan wouldn't succeed.

He had somehow known the answer would be something like this. His brain cells ignored the 'that's not me' part and only focused on the denial. His imagination could only go this far when it came to guessing what the bastard was capable of doing but, to be fair, he had known from the beginning that it wasn't it. Reading minds would explain some of Allen's actions, but it wouldn't be of any use for the rest. Every time he dodged flying rocks seconds before he should've registered them coming his way, for example. Zoro strongly doubted rocks had any mind to be read. So, what?

His attention was once again stolen as he sensed Allen's predatory smirk and saw him launching left. Zoro stepped right and away from Allen's range of attack, but Allen was suddenly in his space and shooting, and the only reason he missed was because Zoro's frantic instincts made him throw himself to the floor at the last second. He felt the burn of the bullet brushing the top strands of his hair and he swore out loud as he scrambled to his feet with a crazed stare, ready for a second attack that didn't come his way as Allen stepped to the right and settled for waiting again. The slight 'tsk' the twin let out didn't go unnoticed, but he didn't seem all that bothered that he hadn't finished him yet, even though he had been _this_ close.

Zoro cursed again and forced himself to clear his mind. He needed to figure this out, he needed to fucking focus once and for all. He imposed on himself some of his meditation techniques, leaving a small part of his attention on the bastard in front of him so that he could react at any given moment, while he spent the rest on putting pieces together, trying to relax his busy mind in order to see the big picture clearly.

In his small analysis he decided to fuck giving reasonable names to what was going on: at this point it wasn't important where Allen's ability came from or what he was potentially able to do exactly, that would only grant him a headache. He merely focused on what he knew the other _seemed_ to be doing. Whatever the fuck it was that he _could_ do, what Zoro knew was that Allen seemed to know what Zoro was about to do before he even as much as acted on it. That was a fact he was certain of. Fact one was established: he somehow foresaw what Zoro would do.

Onto the second fact he had witnessed: it wasn't only Zoro's actions that he somehow predicted. He also seemed to know what was about to happen around him. If he had been able to read minds it would've made sense for him to foresee Zoro's every move, but there was no way he could've known where the next piece of rock or debris consequence of their fighting would or wouldn't fall, and he totally knew that. It's almost as if…

Zoro frowned and considered the fact that he was a massive idiot for not understanding before. He didn't need to be a genius to understand what he was just now comprehending: Allen knew what was about to happen _in general_, period. That would explain his calculated way of dodging unanimated objects with a respectable margin of time, sometimes even before they were sent flying. It didn't have anything to do with what Zoro was planning on doing, Allen just knew, as he probably knew when it would start raining on cloudy days. Back to fact one, he had to scratch it and reformulate it: Allen didn't only predict Zoro's actions, he foresaw the future or some shit like that, there wasn't another way to explain his actions.

That's why he waited. It only made sense that Allen wouldn't waste his efforts in a continuous battle that would only manage to exhaust him when he didn't foresee any of his shots hitting the target. When he foresaw that Zoro would dodge or block, Allen waited. When Zoro attacked, he knew he would and so he moved in time without as much as blinking. That would explain a lot of things. It would explain how he had managed to smash Nami, Usopp and Robin at the same time in the casino. He knew what was coming his way and he would bet in accordance. He wasn't an ace, he just _knew _where to place his bets because he knew which ones would lead to his ultimate success. That explained all the confusing breaks he apparently took for no reason in between their fight, it would explain the waiting. That explained why every time he did attack he either hit Zoro or was _this_ close to do so. He foresaw that the path he was choosing would be successful, it was a simple as that. Or maybe not that simple, but Zoro could work with that much assumed knowledge.

Zoro wanted to slap himself. Hard. It shouldn't have been this difficult given Allen's overall behavior. This is why Sanji was fucking necessary in that crew, and this is why he needed him by his fucking side in this fight and not at the other end of the damn stadium: he had the fastest and wittiest strategic mind among all of them, he could be fighting or having his ass kicked and yet have the mind to keep analyzing each and every detail around him in order to find useful information that no one else saw and usually ended up saving the crew's ass when everyone had diligently done their fighting and suddenly found themselves in a tight spot no one had been able to foresee except for Sanji.

Zoro was way slower, proof of that were the bullet wounds in his body. It wasn't all that difficult, dammit, yet it had taken him all of his meditation skills to put every piece into place and get a glimpse of the big picture only to find that it had been pretty obvious from the start. He could only imagine Sanji mocking him about how he couldn't do two things at the same time, those things being fighting and fucking thinking straight. Zoro groaned in annoyance. He had been looking for something extremely complicated as a reason for Allen's clear upper hand in that battle, he had been falling for Allen's taunts and distractions, but the simplest evidence had been in front of him all the time: it didn't matter why or how, the clear thing he had _seen_ all along yet not _processed_ until he had put his whole mind into it was that Allen foresaw shit and acted ahead of anything. Plain and simple as that. He still didn't have a damn clue about how to fight it, but knowing what his enemy held as his true weapon was a nice beginning.

His eye flickered back to Allen as he frowned, half-expecting the other to attack him again, but the twin merely took a few steps towards him, taunting the swordsman. Zoro calmly took the same number of steps back. Allen stayed in place with a small smile that just stayed there for the sake of it, no special meaning behind it. He seemed to be pondering something, more like analyzing it. And, for the first time, he seemed slightly frustrated. Whatever Allen was waiting for wasn't coming his way anytime soon. His eyes scanned Zoro and flickered at a fast pace, giving away that his brain was working at its 120% but was somehow finding all paths for whatever he was analyzing blocked as he tried to draw new ones.

He ended up giving up, his train of thought visibly stopping as he sighed in annoyance. He lazily raised his right gun and fired a clear shot that Zoro avoided without much trouble. Zoro frowned. Allen had known he would fail, but he had still shot, almost as if to kill the boredom.

But then he saw his eyes moving at short intervals again, and he realized that Allen was drawing new paths in his mind. What paths he didn't know, but Allen was back to analyzing with a higher urge than before, almost as if he was seeing a completely new picture. Allen hadn't shot in order to kill the boredom while he waited. No: he had merely made him move. The way Allen's expression looked focused as opposed to the frustrated one he had been wearing three seconds ago, told him that he was analyzing new data. New data that Zoro had weaved with his change of position: he was almost positive about that.

Zoro squinted in confusion. There was something else he hadn't yet pinpointed. Something small that could make a huge difference. Zoro was mostly certain that all of his assumptions were true, yet there was that one piece of the puzzle he couldn't find. There was something in the way Allen's eyes moved, which he hadn't noticed until now, something that had been there all along, especially during the longest waits, hiding under the nonchalant façade he wore. Now that he thought of it, the pattern wasn't the same for everything Allen did. Sometimes he was sharp and accurate, sometimes his eyes shone with certainty. Some other times, his eyes flickered, sometimes he analyzed something Zoro didn't quite understand, and that usually meant long breaks in their fight. Zoro frowned. What caused the difference? There were times where Allen _definitely_ doubted, which was weird. Being able to predict the upcoming future, there shouldn't be a reason for Allen to doubt of his own actions as he had more than enough time to plan them. What made him doubt? What blurred his vision? His mind went back to a short thought he had harbored at the beginning of the fight, one that had somehow switched on an alarming bell inside him but had disappeared as fast as it had come as soon as Allen had attacked and distracted him.

Did he have a blind spot?

* * *

Sanji groaned when both the deep cut in his stomach and the damn wound in his back made him see black as he stepped back having earned a new cut in his thigh. For God's sake, he needed a damn break!

"Not to hurt your pride, but you should probably surrender. I don't really want to kill you if it can be avoided. It wouldn't be exactly fair on you."

Sanji looked at Aila with what he tried hard not to be resentment. She was beating his ass without Sanji making a decent effort to block. The more he blocked the worse he felt about it and the more he half-assed it. His gentlemanly instincts screamed at him to stop opposing a lady. He was pissed off beyond belief, but he could hardly blame it on Aila, not when he didn't have it in him to do so, and much less when he knew it was his own fault for not defending himself properly, leave alone going for the offensive.

"I know it must be a bit boring for you to fight someone unworthy like me, my love, but I can hardly do that without disappointing my crew, which I'd never do as you will surely understand."

Aila looked beyond done by now. She had been looking forward to testing Sanji's limits at some point, but now that it was clear, both by Sanji's behavior and by what she could clearly read in his mind, that he wasn't going to give in to Aila's taunts but rather stay true to his own beliefs, which Aila thought were suicidal, she had lost her interest and was rather annoyed by it. She did want to win, sure, and anyone with only that in mind would be more than happy to find an opponent like Sanji, but she also liked a challenge, she craved them, and Sanji was hardly one. She had to praise his dodging ability, especially now that he was getting tired and he still managed to dodge most of the blows, but she could hardly enjoy herself if Sanji didn't present an actual fight, which she knew for a fact that he could, just that he chose not to. Which made her feel somewhere in between offended and plain bored.

Plus, there was only so much dodging and blocking he could do if Aila could read every defensive move that crossed his mind. The only thing that kept him being successful in his actions was the fact that he was fast and flexible enough to change his movements as soon as Aila read through them, buying him time and a chance to escape, but even he had limits, and sometimes he wasn't fast enough. There was his back as well, not to mention the multiple cuts he had earned, so it was only a matter of time before Aila found a comfortable opening to finish him. She had seen a few up until now, but she hadn't taken advantage of them since they would leave her in a vulnerable position; and even if she knew that Sanji wouldn't take the opportunity to counterattack, her fighting instincts advised her against taking the fastest way and waiting instead for the right moment.

Sanji felt cornered. He hadn't felt like this for a long time. He felt trapped, without any exit nearby for him to take and get out of this nightmare. Not only was he confronting a woman, his biggest weakness; he was also unable to get to where Zoro was because she knew what he was up to and intercepted him every single time he tried; and he knew for a fact that if things continued like this, which they would if he didn't change them which he couldn't do without violence, he would end up dying in Aila's hands.

The last time he had felt this trapped had been in the island he had been stuck in for two years with the okamas as his only company. It had been as much an asphyxiating feeling as this one was. The situation was _completely_ different, but the feeling was similar. Just as he found himself running mile after mile with a horde of men trying to catch him while trying to achieve something that could help his crew on the long run without any place to escape to, he now found himself running in circles only to end up being cut by Aila's sword again, his only available course of action being an endless running away spiral that would ultimately lead to his defeat. He felt cornered, trapped, caged. There was nothing around him he could hold onto. If he had been able to get to Zoro, he would've been his liberating escape, but Zoro wasn't there and he wouldn't be able to get to him anytime soon. He was alone. Just as he had been back in Momoiro Island. Just that he had been able to overcome the impossible back then, he had managed to fly away, while he could only picture himself failing here. If he thought back to it, he had also been desperate back then, he had also thought there was no way out; even when he had a glimpse of it, he couldn't even graze it.

At some point it had changed, though. At some point he had stopped feeling like the next step he took would be the last one before they got him, at one point he had stopped feeling psychologically tired. Now that he thought of it, how had he managed to keep running for such a long time-span without falling, without fainting because of the lack of sleep?

And then it hit him.

At some point he had completely stopped thinking, almost shutting his brain off. He wasn't exactly sleeping, he just had managed to drive his mind into an autopilot mode that had all of his fighting and defensive instincts awake and aware while his brain disconnected every few hours and took a rest. That had been the only reason why he had lasted that long running around. And, then, when he had found no more paths to run through, he had learned to sky walk, building an escape route where there wasn't one to begin with, but that wasn't neither here or there. The thing is that he had been able to keep the part of his brain in charge of keeping him alive separate from the one in charge of his thoughts. He had been able to disconnect all of his functioning brain cells until only the ones keeping him running were working full force, giving himself the chance to somehow rest in his runaway out of that madness instead of going crazy.

He had been able to do it once, hadn't he? Could it, maybe, be of any use now? Did she also know how his instincts would react or was her ability only restricted to thoughts? Could he use this apparently irrelevant skill against Aila?

Just as the thought crossed his mind, Aila's sword came flying at full speed his way, almost cutting him in two, and he swore it was only because luck had decided to grace him at that very moment that he somehow managed to dodge it an instant before it cut through his skin, merely leaving a gash in his forehead as he bent himself backwards and to the ground. Sanji was quick to get onto his feet, ignoring as well as he could the burning pain in his back, retreating as fast as he could with his heart stuck in his throat as he saw life flashing in front of his eyes. That had been the closest one and it had been _too_ close. The rage Aila had thrown the weapon at him with was, at the very least, scary. Then he saw her eyes.

Aila looked almost crazed, suddenly breathing hard as if she was barely keeping an irked rage inside, almost looking scared, suddenly looking as if she was about to be trapped herself.

Sanji realized she had read his thoughts. And he realized he had been right: he could use that against Aila. If Aila's trump card was reading minds, his was shutting his brain's gates to her. He could work without the conscious part of his brain leading him around and Aila would automatically lose her advantage. He only needed to set a goal for himself and his instincts would take him there, they had done so before.

"Don't you dare," Aila growled, suddenly realizing that she had no weapon in her hands anymore as she had sent it flying to the nearest wall in a desperate attempt to finish Sanji before he could finish the thought that could get him out of this one.

Sanji smiled apologetically as he scratched the back of his head and shrugged a bit, trying to get rid of any feeling of guilt he could feel for making Aila this upset. He really couldn't stand upsetting women, but today was a day of exceptions.

"Sorry about that, love."

And then Aila was running to him as she fished a knife out of her boot, where she kept it attached to her ankle. But she didn't get to him in time. Sanji's inner voice, which had been playing as background music in her head, went mute a second before she threw the weapon at his face, where Sanji's last thought told her that he wouldn't be able to dodge in time. Yet he dodged.

Aila turned around, following Sanji with her eyes and realizing where he was going with increasing anger boiling inside. She couldn't tell because of the fact that his brain gave him away anymore, but because of the general direction he was running towards to. She couldn't read him anymore. Now she only saw what her eyes could see.

Sanji's mind was deafeningly silent.

Sanji's mind was blank.

* * *

Zoro saw it in Allen's eyes when something that wasn't Zoro got his attention. The way his expression changed into a half shocked one told him that he wasn't pleased at all with whatever it was that had distracted him. But the swordsman didn't read much more into it as he hurried to take the unique opportunity presented and launched at him with his three swords unshielded. And, for the first time, it seemed to take Allen by surprise as he only registered Zoro's actions the moment he had started them instead of doing so beforehand, barely having a second to dodge and shoot at Zoro in order to keep him at bay and away from him, which he managed to do as Zoro blocked the bullet and jumped back into his original place with half a smirk placed on his face. He had almost got him there.

Allen glared hard at him, almost shocked at his own carelessness when he had let his guard down.

"You are not that infallible I see," Zoro commented with a teasing grin as he saw a small ray of hope at the end of that damn fight.

So his ability wasn't omnipotent. If his attention got unbalanced he missed foreseeable courses of action. Good to know. However, Zoro didn't know what had distracted him nor did he know what in the world was capable of doing so, so his chances of finding or creating an opportunity like that one again were incredibly scarce.

There still was something else, though. There was something slightly unstable in Allen's predictions, something he could use against him if only he could figure out what it was. But Allen didn't give him the time of the day as he started shooting in his direction, barely giving him time to cut through the rain of bullets and retreat. Something about the attack was off. Allen wasn't managing a single hit, and he must have known he wouldn't, but he still shot. There was a certain flare of nervousness in the offensive, something that told Zoro that Allen wasn't all that chill and relaxed anymore. Something had gone wrong for his team, whatever it was, and he was now in a rush to get this done, so he kept Zoro moving around and tracing new potential courses of action every time he did.

Zoro growled. He needed to figure out what was up with the mild unbalance in Allen's ability, he knew that was what could grant him a fighting chance. And so he decided to start trying shit.

Allen's attack stopped as soon as Zoro turned around and sent a murderous hit against the nearest wall, making the crowd sitting behind it scream in shock. Instead of sparing a glance at the mess of flying rocks he had made (which he knew wouldn't hit him since he was out of its scope), he fixed his stare on Allen, who was busy dodging them. He watched as Allen took a step back and three to the left. Zoro started counting. A good five seconds after he had moved with the first step, a rock fell where he had been. Eight seconds after that first step, another one fell against the spot where he had been before taking three steps to the left. He then stood still and two seconds later five pieces of debris and a few more irrelevant small stones fell around him like rain, none of them touching him as he didn't move one bit. Allen blinked again and jumped to the right and then walked backwards a good two meters. Allen was looking at him with a piercing murderous glare when two more pieces of marble fell around him, one right where he had been before jumping to the right and the other in the spot he was before walking backwards, creating a wave of smaller piercing stones that flew his way but didn't reach him since he was standing a few inches away from where the last stone crashed. It had been five more seconds.

Zoro scrunched his nose in concentration. So there was a margin of five to ten seconds that Allen could predict. He had definitely 'seen' the first two rocks and the debris rain in one go; all of his movements had been fluid, precise and without a bit of hesitation. The average time in between his first step and the last piece of rock to fall had been about ten seconds. Zoro could swear the next rocks to fall had been predicted in a second vision. The way Allen had blinked in slight realization, as if he had just seen what was coming his way next, told him that his theory was most likely certain. The time between that foretelling blink and the last piercing stone to fall had been five to six more seconds. And if the prediction had been divided in two and the first one had only been able to tell him where the rocks would fall ten seconds in advance, it meant that his maximum range of prediction was of ten seconds or so.

No, wait, it wasn't that either. Zoro blinked and recalculated when he noticed, in his own revision of the facts, that the range was a bit longer. Allen had stopped attacking him one or two seconds before Zoro had decided to turn around and send a hit against the wall. It had taken Zoro two more seconds after the hit to take a good look at what Allen was doing, and he had already been moving. That meant that he had already known where the first pieces of rock would fall and had started avoiding them with a wider time-span by when Zoro decided to act, else he could've used the opportunity to shoot at Zoro's unprotected back when he turned around to throw the blow. Which would have been the reasonable course of action for anyone who wouldn't have known that a wave of rocks would come his way a moment later. He would've probably hit him where he wanted, he was a great shooter, but he would've been crushed a moment later, which hardly counted as a victory, and he had known that before Zoro had even sent the blow against the wall, more or less when he had decided to do so. Instead, he gave himself the time to move away from the other pieces with a comfortable amount of time in between his movements and the hits. Taking that last fact into account, Zoro calculated that his maximum prediction span would be of fifteen to seventeen seconds.

Zoro watched as another piece fell right behind Allen, but the other was already running towards him, probably knowing in advance that no other rock would come in between them, else he wouldn't have risked it. Zoro moved left, but a less than a second before he did, Allen modified the angle of the shot and fired towards Zoro's new position instead. Zoro gasped and purposely missed his footing so that his whole body would fall backwards, more out of instinct than out of an actual well-thought plan, and he just so happened to manage to dodge it, the hotness of the bullet cutting the air barely missing his nose.

He then rolled to the side but had to stop in his tracks as Allen was already shooting in the direction he was heading. He wasn't fast enough as to avoid the closest bullet grazing his arm with a burn, but he managed to stop right before it pierced through him. He was already standing on his feet when another shot scarcely missed getting his right foot as his instincts made him jump back. He was expecting further attacks as he rearranged his limbs into an offensive position, his hip and shoulder complaining with a wave of pain, but as his eye lifted to locate Allen, he found him taking a few steps backwards and to the left with a wary expression, almost retreating far away from an attack that Zoro hadn't yet started. And, instead of resuming the assault the exact moment he had put himself into a safe spot out of Zoro's predicted attack, Allen stood still, eyeing Zoro down with a suspicious frown. Zoro glared at him in confusion while his brain studied different courses of action he could go for, not deciding in favour of any of them just yet as he tried to figure out which one would make it harder for Allen to dodge or counterattack even with his prediction ability working against Zoro.

Allen was still not attacking. His eyes were back to flickering around Zoro's face, and now Zoro knew why. None of the paths he was foreseeing were of his liking, so he was trying to create new options in his head, trying to find the one opening that didn't yet exist but would appear in the future depending on what he did that would make him manage a hit.

And, as he watched his expression, Zoro could see, again, what he had seen before: there was _something_ about Allen's ability that was off.

Allen's expression turned frustrated, and next thing he knew he was shooting his way, knowing full well that Zoro would dodge. He was making him move. Again. His eyes went back to flickering, almost frantically, the moment Zoro started dodging. Zoro blinked as he stood still when Allen decided to stop firing and resumed waiting, his eyes clearly reanalyzing every new option that he had created.

And then he understood.

Allen's behavior was completely different when it came to the rocks falling around him than it was when he dealt with Zoro.

Allen didn't analyze shit when it came to avoiding stuff falling his way, he just _saw_ and acted on it with a comfortable time-span ahead of him.

Allen didn't spend a single second waiting when it came to the rocks falling around him, but he sometimes had to stop and analyze potential courses of action when it came to the swordsman. The way his eyes flickered around and calculated like crazy told Zoro that Allen didn't see the outcome of his or Zoro's actions as clearly as he normally would.

There were times where Allen would dodge or move out of the way right before Zoro would attack without difficulty because he already knew what he was about to do. There were waiting times that Allen indulged in out of a mocking impulse, just because he could, and Zoro could tell when those happened.

_But_ there were waiting times where he was unequivocally doubting, and doubting _hard_. There were times where Allen didn't see the outcome. Those were the times where his breaks had a meaning; he used them to analyze each and every possible path available with their respective results and, when he didn't like any of them, he'd change his own actions or modify Zoro's through keeping him moving with the hope that he'd create a new and clearer outcome out of the new situation at hand.

Zoro blinked in realization. It just made sense. Of course he'd act different with Zoro than he did when he had to dodge unanimated objects! The former ones didn't decide. The former ones just _happened_. But Zoro… Zoro was a human being. Zoro had a brain of his own and he kept it working at full speed all the time. He changed plans according to what happened around him: what he was about to do, with its respective consequence which Allen foresaw, could change the next second as Zoro's brain came up with a new course of action. Zoro reacted to Allen's own actions and, even when Allen was waiting, Zoro's brain kept toying with possibilities. As long as Zoro didn't decide in favour of one, Allen's vision wasn't limited to a single future: what he saw instead where as many potential outcomes as Zoro's plans of action amounted to. Allen sure knew all the ways his or Zoro's next move could end in, but it wasn't only his decisions that had to be taken into account and he had no way to know which one Zoro would decide to proceed with.

That would explain the chiller breaks he took: if Allen had a possible way out ready for _each_ of Zoro's potential moves, he just needed to wait for Zoro to act and react in a way that he had previously explored and studied, which would explain all the missed hits Zoro had collected. He already knew that, whatever Zoro did, he'd fail.

That would also explain why, the clearer Zoro's plan of action was, the best and fastest response Allen had ready in advance. If Zoro's thoughts only pointed at one possible course of action he wasn't all that different from a rock. Sometimes Zoro's brain wasn't working with possibilities, sometimes it just chose the first one that came to mind, as it would normally do when he was trying to get away from one of Allen's multiple assaults, which were meant to keep Zoro's brain activity to a minimum. Minimum meant clearer to Allen. There were no possible variations: if Zoro's future actions were clear and simple, there was one or two possible outcomes for Allen to foresee, which made him practically omnipotent. It just made sense that Allen would react with a larger time-span to Zoro's future actions either when he had a well-drawn plan or when he went with the simplest one that came to mind.

And so it also explained the doubt. It _especially_ explained the doubt. If Zoro didn't settle for a single course of action, if he kept changing his decisions or didn't get to decide but just consider them, then Allen had no way of knowing which one of the many outcomes he kept seeing at once would happen.

The times when he just barely missed hitting Zoro or only managed to graze him, weren't due to luck. The reason why Zoro managed to keep his head in place at the last second was because he changed his movements in order to avoid the hit. He reacted to it and he did so when Allen had already acted, changing Allen's vision with his own change of mind at the last millisecond and so giving Allen a scarce margin to react to that and accommodate to the new future laid out before him. That was what Allen couldn't control. Zoro's sharp instincts kicking in weren't in the picture Allen had drawn in his head. He knew they existed and he probably had a glimpse of the possibility of those changes happening, but he didn't have the time to properly foresee them until they actually kicked in.

That explained why some of Allen's hits failed. Had he been able to _completely_ predict the future, and taking into account that the maximum time-span he had was fifteen seconds, he should have already finished Zoro. But that wasn't how it worked, _here_ was the imbalance: Zoro's decisions modified the future as Allen saw it, and the closer one decision was to the previous one, the less time Allen had to foresee its outcome.

The time between a sudden reaction consequence of pure self-preservation instincts kicking in and the moment when Zoro would act on it was almost inexistent. That was the margin of error in Allen's ability. If it had been an ordinary human being he was dealing with, he wouldn't have failed as much, maybe not at all. It took a sharp last-millisecond reaction for Allen not to be able to modify his actions according to what he foresaw in time to make his attacks succeed. Where the time-span between decision and action was almost inexistent, his prediction capacity was reduced to almost none. Not many people were able to do that. But Zoro was one of the few who could.

Then again, a fast enough decision-making capacity wasn't his only limit: the other extreme worked against Allen as well. If Zoro's brain didn't decide at all but instead worked with enough potential strategies as to make Allen have trouble gathering all the possible outcomes and betting for the one that would happen, Allen was just as lost as if he hadn't been able to see what came next. It was understandable that Allen would feel anxious when all of the outcomes worked against himself. It made sense that he'd wait instead of acting since he knew it would end badly for him. Those were the times where his eyes looked frantic and his stance was tense, the times where he didn't even dare to breathe as he saw a set of potential futures he didn't like one bit in front of him, some of the possibilities probably ending with his death.

Zoro didn't have a way to know any of that. Only Allen knew. That's why, most of the times, Zoro didn't act; he had assumed that Allen would block whatever came his way when, maybe, he would have been able to score a hit, and he unknowingly gave Allen the time to make him move and create new more favorable options, erasing the one where Zoro had had the advantage to start with. Allen was an intelligent fighter.

Zoro smirked. Allen still had the upper hand when it came to knowledge, but Zoro had figured him out.

If he wanted to buy time, he only needed to keep his brain occupied with brand new ways of attacking or retreating without letting himself feel inclined towards any of them, which would confuse the hell out of his opponent unless all of them were bad enough plans as for Allen to draw a better counterattack to each one of them in advance.

If he wanted to counter Allen's ability and make it useless, he just needed to be fast and surprising enough in his decision-making, he just needed to keep changing his course of action until the time between his decision and the consequences Allen could foresee was nonexistent. He had a way to keep Allen's power at bay, just that it was difficult as fuck to do. There was always that millisecond in between thought an action, a millisecond that kept Allen ahead of the game. Figuring out a way of erasing that last barrier wouldn't be an easy task, but Zoro liked challenges as they came, so he didn't have a problem in trying.

A new wave of shots got him out of his trance as he started jumping around and cutting through bullets. One grazed his thigh. Allen was back in action.

Zoro let out a guttural growl that sounded more excited than annoyed and went back to a fighting stance. He now had the information, he just needed to use it. And so he left his mind blank, as he would do when he meditated, and did whatever his instincts told him to. Next thing he knew he was sprinting against a vicious rain of deadly bullets, dodging and blocking all the same, letting his own limbs take him where he wanted to. He kept his brain active; he still needed to analyze the situation in front of him in order to keep making the decisions he needed for a good fight, but his instincts made everything faster. With each bullet nearly getting indented in his body, a new sudden reaction arose as adrenaline kicked in and his brain went for the movement that would avoid the wound, changing what came next with each strike of instinct kicking in.

His grin grew feral when he found himself right in front of Allen, who stared back at him with shocked eyes and both his guns still raised, the unexpected outcome of Zoro's action taking a toll on him as he froze and found himself unable to shoot for a second, which gave Zoro the opportunity he needed. And then Zoro released the caged tactical side of his brain, which immediately drew the course of action that would lead him to cut through Allen. Allen's eyes widened and just as Zoro's swords cut like a cross where the twin had been, Zoro realized that his opponent was not there anymore, but a scarce few inches away, having missed the hit by the blink of an eye.

Allen was still ahead of him. The time it took for Zoro to transform his strategy into actions, no matter how long he kept his brain from drawing one, was still too long. Zoro knew where the problem laid. As fast and precise as he was, his way of fighting was pretty straight forward. Sure he had mastered the art of swordsmanship to a point where most of his attacks were lethal and exactly on point, sure he had come to a technical point in his ability where he could do pretty much everything with his swords, but his moves were ordered and were 'limited' by his own weapons, which had a solid shape that wouldn't change no matter how skillful Zoro was with them. No matter what crazy moves he managed, the shape and length of the swords was what it was and the fighting style was direct and forward. And that was what gave Allen the last millisecond.

If Zoro was persistent enough he could manage to exhaust Allen with a non-stop attack-and-change-strategy course of action, he just needed to be fast enough when redirecting his plans. Zoro _could_ do that. But then he'd also be gambling with his own luck. It was just as possible for Allen to lose his advantage as it was for him to finally use it against Zoro. A millisecond could work against Allen, but it could definitely be worse for Zoro. Not that he could do much more, though.

As he kept charging against Allen in an attempt to make him lose the scarce balance between present and future that he was currently holding, Sanji came back to his mind. Where the fuck was the bastard? He would've held more chances than Zoro did against Allen. His fighting style was capable of erasing the damned millisecond that had Zoro's brain feeling like he was riding a fucking roller-coaster. Sanji was just as precise as Zoro was but, while Zoro's fighting was fully ordered and direct, Sanji's was chaotic. Not to the blonde, who knew exactly what he was doing, but to everyone watching or fighting against it. Sanji was in full control of each of his moves, but when he turned into a raging inferno there was no way of knowing where the next kick would land. Zoro had worked for his own ability to be unpredictable, and he had succeeded. Most of his enemies didn't know what came their way until a few seconds after the blade had cut through them. But it wasn't enough for someone like Allen, who could see where the swords would cut. There was still a pattern that his fighting style followed, and that was the limit he was currently facing.

On the other hand, Sanji's ability was inherently unpredictable. If it was only _a_ kick it wasn't all that difficult, no need for future predictions for someone to know where it was going to land either, but once he started violently spinning you could only react to what came your way once it was _already_ coming your way. There wasn't a pattern because Sanji never established one. Sanji was precise as fuck and he knew _exactly_ what he was doing, but he went with the flow, which meant his decisions were taken practically at the same moment he acted on them. Plus, it was his own limbs he was using, limbs he was able to bend in multiple and impossible ways: his flexibility surpassed the limits Zoro's solid and rigid swords presented. Sanji could beat that millisecond without the need for Allen to hand it to him.

And then it hit him like lightening. Zoro blinked as the pieces of the puzzle started fitting where they belonged to. The twins' partner choice hadn't been driven by their knowledge of the fact that Sanji couldn't fight a woman. Sanji and Zoro hadn't had the opportunity to watch the twins fight, but the siblings had observed them and learned their fighting techniques. The more Zoro thought about it, the more he believed that Aila being a woman hadn't been the main reason for her to directly confront Sanji. If he thought back to it, at the beginning of the fight Allen had only acted once Aila had effectively gathered all of Sanji's attention. Why hadn't he realized before? Aila hadn't been trying to get Sanji herself as much as she was trying to keep him away from Allen. She had been fast at intercepting Sanji right before he had reached Allen, and she had been faster at driving him away.

He almost wanted to laugh. It had been clear and he hadn't seen through it until now. Keeping them separated had its strategic value, no doubt. And Aila fighting Sanji was as dirty as a trick could get, and just as effective, sure. But those stupid obvious considerations had taken their attention away from the _real_ strategy: keeping Sanji away from Allen and avoiding a fight between them. They knew that he held a stupidly high chance of erasing Allen's ability even without knowing what the twin could do, leave alone if the blonde managed to guess what his power consisted of. They knew that Sanji's fighting technique, merely because of its nature, could turn Allen blind and so they had kept him away from him from the start.

Sanji could do what Zoro barely had the 50% chance to achieve, he _could_ erase the last millisecond. He could nullify Allen's visions and turn them to ashes. He could leave him bare of everything but his own fighting skills and his last-second reflexes to fend himself with. Sanji could turn the situation upside-down. And the twins had seen that the moment they had seen Sanji fight through the waiting room's monitors.

It was almost funny. Zoro and, specially, Sanji had been afraid of that fight (as much as the swordsman knew that the blonde would never admit that). Sanji had been afraid of fighting a woman, he had been afraid of everything the twins held against them that made them have the upper hand. Turns out the twins had been afraid of Sanji from the very start. Turns out that Sanji unknowingly held as strong a trump card as the ones the twins held against them.

Zoro cut through air, again. Allen had dodged. The twin was now sweating and visibly tense and focused, no trace of his chill and mocking pose left. For the first time, he had to make an effort to keep up with the fight. Zoro smirked.

"Afraid of blondie, aren't we?"

Allen's eyes widened in shock at his words and Zoro knew his theory was right. Of course it was. If only he had paid more attention he would've been able to read through them way earlier.

Zoro threw another blow but modified his attack just before finishing it, engaging in a new one and barely missing Allen's arm by the blink of an eye. Allen wasn't granted a break as Zoro kept changing strategies in an unstoppable assault, keeping Allen's brain busy with trying to keep up with all the new scenarios appearing before him second after second.

"Surprised much? Not a bad strategy, I have to admit. You are clever fighters, but if you keep it up for too long you risk your opponent figuring you out," Zoro commented in between attacking and dodging. Allen was back to shooting frantically in an attempt to keep Zoro away and earn himself a few seconds of prediction.

The swordsman gritted his teeth. He was getting away with his offensive strategy, but every time he tried to use Allen's blind spots in between attacks to get to where Sanji was, the brunette read through it and blocked his path, only barely avoiding being sliced in the process. One thing was attacking and going as much with the flow as Zoro's ability let him, which he could turn into _almost _unpredictable, but it was a different story when his mind tried to reach the blonde. He didn't know exactly where he was and so he needed one or two seconds to try to locate him, which made all the escape plans in his head perfectly readable for Allen. And so he couldn't move a damn inch towards the damn cook without the fucking clone of a twin cutting his path with a burst of bullets.

Shit. He needed Sanji here. The way things were going he was starting to feel tired as well. The more time he spent trying to get into Allen's blind spot the more their equal footing in advantage got thinner. It was a matter of time before one of them committed a mistake and the balance broke in favour of the victor.

Just as Zoro's sword grazed Allen's side, a look of absolute panic took over the twin's features. Zoro half stopped his movements in confusion as he practically saw Allen's heart stopping in his chest.

What…-

Allen ran backwards and raised both his arms. He hysterically shot and Zoro dodged, just that he didn't really need to. Allen hadn't been trying to hit him. He had targeted something behind him. Zoro realized what that something was as soon as he heard the tale-tell voice booming at his back.

"Out of my way, Marimo!"

Thank his lately absent lucky star for finally deciding to grace him with its presence.

**TBC**

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**A/N: **helloooooo everyone, long time no see! I am sorry about the long waits, I am kind of busy lately! plus this chapter took me SO long to finish, omg I think this is one of the most complicated chapters I have written so far, I tried hard to make it understandable and I can just hope it's not too confusing! Let me know if it was too extensive or too boring, I was just trying to make everything clear, but then it got longer and longer!I hope it wasn't too much, but I got so much into the fight that I couldn't stop writing (again, I hope I didn't make it too confusing or boring!)

I am already working on the next one, I hope it doesn't take as long as this one took! Thank you for all your support and kind comments, they motivate me a lot! Big hug to everyone!


	32. Chapter 32 - Beep

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**Chapter 32**

**Beep**

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"Out of my way, Marimo!"

Zoro rolled his eyes as he both crouched and tried to keep a sudden excited twirl in his stomach at bay. Sanji flew over him covered in raging flames and next thing he knew he was throwing a lethal axe kick at Allen, who kept shooting at the blonde until he had no choice but to jump back and away from Sanji.

The blonde could have gone after him, but he didn't know what Zoro had just discovered and he seemed to place his best interests in closing the distance between the swordsman and himself rather than kicking the twin's ass, at least for the moment. Just as Sanji turned around to run towards him, his expression changed. And just as Zoro watched Sanji's blue orb flicker, he sensed the presence behind him and spun around just in time to block a huge sword. His arms flexed and he used all of his strength to send Aila flying the opposite way and succeeded as she abandoned the pulse and jumped back in a wary stance.

Zoro flinched when he felt a hand being placed against his lower back, but he quickly relaxed, without dropping his defensive stance, as he felt Sanji's body half pressing against his side. He felt his agitated panting and the slight trembling of his hand against his clothed skin and Zoro's attention wavered a little.

"About time," he muttered. He kept his eye glued to Aila. He would've kept attacking her hadn't he felt the urge to remain by Sanji's side until he had figured out a way of keeping the woman away from him. The tension in his stressed-out muscles lessened as he felt Sanji's hot breath lightly hitting his left shoulder.

"She reads minds," Sanji informed with a raspy and tired voice. Then he coughed and took a few deep unstable breaths.

Zoro watched as Allen circled around them and stood by Aila's side, slowly but noticeably letting her stand in front of him. The swordsman didn't move either, he just inspected them. He needed the break like he needed oxygen in his lungs and the twins seemed to be up for it as well.

"What?" he found himself asking as he frowned and let his eye flicker towards Sanji, who kept his blue ones on the twins.

"She can read minds. She knows what's going through your mind and so she can read your every movement as long as your brain processes it. We are an open book to her," Sanji explained. His voice was off and his breathing uneven.

Zoro allowed himself a second to turn his head and properly look at Sanji. His eye quickly went back to where he had fixed it before, the shadow of concern bathing his features. Sanji looked like crap. He had more cuts than Zoro could count and he was leaning all his weight in his trembling right leg, which gave away how much shit his back was probably giving him. He was amazed that the blonde still stood. Aila had cut quite deep in places that should've made his moves sluggish enough as for her to manage a last lethal hit. Zoro didn't want to know how much blood he had lost. It was a miracle in itself that Sanji hadn't been killed yet. He sure as hell had been about to lose his life a few times if the cuts were anything to go by.

He tried to concentrate on their opponents. They weren't attacking nor did they seem about to do so. Allen had gotten a hold of Aila's wrist and kept her in place, almost as a warning. He probably wasn't finding any appropriate course of action in his analysis. He was definitely analyzing though, quite frantically actually, and so was Aila.

"If she can read you, how have you managed to get here?"

Sanji shrugged.

"You need to keep your mind blank," Sanji looked at Zoro's profile in deep thought. "You should be familiarized with it, isn't that what you do when you meditate? Empty your brain or some shit like that?"

Zoro nodded. He was slightly surprised that the blonde wasn't being a little shit and pointing out how it should be easy to do for someone with a permanently empty brain as Zoro, but he figured Sanji couldn't afford wasting time teasing, not when he was barely standing.

"Do you know how to keep it void of any thought and still react to external impulses? Can you fight when you are in trance?"

Zoro gave it some though and ended up nodding again. He didn't know how to explain it but he could keep his mind blank while maintaining a certain sense of awareness. The same sense of awareness that made him dodge Sanji's unwarned kicks when he tried to 'wake him up' on their leisure days. He could register when an attack was coming his way even if his mind was far away from reality, and he could act in response.

"Yes. Yes, I can," he confirmed.

Sanji smiled in relief.

"Good."

Sanji's hand wasn't in contact with his back anymore but his weight was still pressing against him, which meant that the blonde needed the support, which wasn't good news. His breathing was still labored, which was unusual as Sanji was good at regulating it.

"Are you okay?"

The question escaped his lips without him processing it and, just as it did, he felt embarrassed. That was the kind of question they weren't supposed to ask, the question they _never_ asked. He felt Sanji frown hard by his side.

"Fucking peachy," he barked with half the strength he had tried to imprint. "What about him?"

Zoro followed Sanji's head shake and his sight landed on Allen.

"He is a good shooter."

"No shit, Sherlock."

"He can also foresee the future."

Sanji blinked and gave Zoro's profile a side glance, then stared at Allen with a deep frown.

"Okay. Why aren't you dead yet, though?"

It was a good question. The reason why Zoro hadn't initially thought of future-telling as a possibility was the fact that the ability per se should've granted Allen the victory in a blink of an eye; Zoro shouldn't have been able to dodge and fight back. Only when the actual gear-work of the ability was bared to Zoro did he think of it as a pretty clear reason as to why everything around him was happening.

"Where's the blind spot?"

Zoro wanted to growl in annoyance. Sanji was fast. Too fast for Zoro's pride not to take offence on it. He had been way slower.

"When it comes to inanimate objects there's a margin of prediction that goes up to fifteen… maybe twenty seconds," he informed, giving a few extra seconds to his approximations just in case.

Sanji looked back at him and Zoro settled for demonstrating.

"Watch him."

Sanji's eyes went back to Allen just as the twin tugged at Aila's arm and forced her to step left. Then Zoro's back separated from his side, leaving him to stand by himself. Sanji's attention wasn't caught by Zoro gathering all of his strength to throw a blow against the wall. He kept watching as Allen, and Aila by his side, stepped back and then took five steps right, jumped back and stepped left. A few seconds later, a storm of rocks started falling in the exact places they had been previously avoiding. Allen watched Zoro with a clearly pissed off expression, but he didn't move anymore, he just waited until the rain was over, and none of the rocks reached him or Aila.

Sanji blinked and Zoro silently offered him his back for the blonde to lean against it again if needed. Sanji didn't take the offer as he merely stood by his side, all skin contact gone. Something small in Zoro's stomach deflated, but he was too busy trying to explain shit he only half understood while making sure they weren't killed in the process as to give it any further thought.

"Twelve seconds since you acted."

"Fifteen since I decided I'd act."

Sanji nodded.

"What about humans? I figure it somehow works differently?"

Zoro hummed, his eye still pasted on the twins, who seemed to be discussing something. They still weren't attacking and Aila was visibly bothered by it while Allen tried to keep her from doing anything. She most likely knew what was going through their minds and she didn't seem to like the fact that they were dismantling their whole strategy. If she had a choice she'd probably attack and try to get rid of them before they could exchange more information, but Allen was way more cautious, and he didn't seem to like whatever outcomes were being displayed in his brain, so he waited. Again. What a boring fight to witness, really.

"The wall wouldn't have exploded hadn't I decided to destroy it, right?"

Sanji blinked again in understanding.

"People's decisions alter the future. And so they alter what Allen sees."

Zoro wanted to sigh. Sanji was fast and his pride wasn't happy with it. It had taken Zoro ages to slowly understand the puzzle.

"Every time you make a decision, it changes the consequences Allen initially foresaw," he confirmed with a scowl. He didn't have time to get angry, albeit he was embarrassed of himself. "I think his prediction range amounts to the seconds that pass in between your decisions and your actions. If you are fast about it, he barely has one or two seconds to react in advance."

"One or two seconds is a lot of time."

"If you are _really_ fast about it, you can almost erase the effects of his power. He is good, though. He is always a millisecond ahead of me no matter how much I try or how much I keep changing strategies."

"Which means you are not fast enough," Sanji stated matter-of-factly.

Zoro scowled. Hard. He told himself that it was in Sanji's nature to be a prick, it's not like the blonde was consciously making an effort to irk him, not this time at least, and so he shouldn't let himself be distracted by it. He needed to focus on the fight. His face was slightly red, though. He knew this conversation would end in a way he wouldn't like at all.

At that moment they heard Allen yell something at Aila, but the woman was running towards them and they had her in their personal space before they could blink. A second before throwing the blow, which would've been blocked by Zoro had she continued with the initial move, Aila planted her feet on the ground and rotated so that she faced Sanji's side, her sword swinging directly his way. Sanji was fast to slightly kick the edge of the weapon so that the angle was modified and it didn't cut through him. Just as Sanji jumped back, Zoro stepped in front of him and blocked a second attack, making Aila fly back and away from the blonde with explosive violence. Aila fell backwards and barely regained her footing as Allen joined her again. Sanji had been about to use the chance to attack the male twin, but Allen had definitely known what he was about to do, because the moment Sanji turned around, he was already by his sister's side. Sanji frowned. What was that? Had he run away from him?

"I told you," Allen chewed as he slightly kicked Aila's heel in clear annoyance. He looked stressed-out.

Sanji frowned. He had known Aila's attack wasn't going to work. And so Aila had known as well. If Aila could read minds and Allen could see the future, then Aila could see the future through Allen's eyes as clearly as he could. Yet she had attacked; she was probably tired of waiting. Now he understood. Of course Aila's behavior had been weird. Of course she had known that Sanji would get distracted by Zoro's scream back when they had been separated and fighting on their own. Aila had seen what was about to happen through Allen's eyes and she had taken advantage of it. That's why there had been something that still kept seeming slightly off as Sanji had been confronting her before, even when he had guessed what her ability was: reading minds didn't lead to half the things Aila had done or kept herself from doing. And now he knew why: Allen let her see what he saw and so their caging process was complete. Sanji frowned harder. That was bad news. An uncomfortable feeling rooted in his stomach. Aila was losing her patience and the twins' team was slowly baring itself as a serious challenge Sanji didn't like one bit.

"Where's the blind spot?" he asked again, this time with an insisting and urgent tone, his hand taking a hold of the back of Zoro's shirt so as to get his attention.

"When you gamble with several possibilities and don't decide which one you are going for, he can see just as many possible outcomes and he doesn't have a way to know which one will happen until you actually decide on it," Zoro was fast to explain. They didn't have much time and there still was a lot to explain. "That confuses him and buys you time. Unless all of your strategies are shitty enough for him to plan a counterattack for each scenario so that by when you do decide he still knows how to react."

"A few of your strategies must have been lame as fuck," Sanji muttered as he sent an obvious glare at Zoro's bullet wounds. He didn't like them one bit, especially not the hip one. That must be considerably restraining his movements, which they didn't need right now.

Zoro aborted the impulse to elbow the bastard. "You don't look much better, shit-cook. She kicked your lame ass," he retaliated. And, really, Sanji looked like he had just come back from war.

"Which we both knew would happen. What else?" Sanji shrugged. His hand was back to tugging at the fabric of Zoro's haramaki, urging him to be fast about the damn class.

The twins seemed to be arguing about something a few meters away from them, Allen visibly standing behind Aila. Which kept striking Sanji as weird. What was going on there?

"The way to limit that bastard's reaction time-span is changing strategies as fast as you can."

"Makes sense. Is that it?"

Zoro bit his lip. The more he looked at Sanji the more his previous convictions crumbled. He had deemed Sanji to be the perfect opponent for Allen, and he would've been had he been in good shape, but Sanji was barely standing. He knew that if he told him his theory Sanji would settle for beating Allen himself no matter what, but he couldn't perform at his 100% and that could end up being lethally counterproductive. Sanji was an actual threat to the twin's ability _only_ if he fought at his best, and he wasn't in any condition to live up to the expectation. If he threw Sanji at Allen with the idea that he was the one with the highest chance of beating him and it turned out that the blonde was too wounded up and slow, he would go from predator to easy prey, and he would end up dead.

Not that he'd be any better off facing Aila, though.

"Oi, marimo-"

"They didn't try to separate us as a strategy. The strategy wasn't pairing you up with Aila so that she could kick your ass without you as much as defending yourself," Zoro forced himself to spit.

He may be throwing Sanji to the sharks by revealing information that left Zoro with nothing to protect as he was placing Sanji in the 'key' position in their team, but he didn't really have a choice, so he forced himself to just throw it for Sanji to pick and not think about it. He couldn't keep on letting his concern for the blonde interfere with what needed to be done.

"What?"

"They have been trying to keep you away from Allen," he forced out yet again.

Sanji's gaze went back to the twins and it suddenly made sense. Aila had driven him away from Allen from the start and Allen was now clearly avoiding him. Aila was standing in front of her brother as a shield as much as Zoro was standing in front of Sanji in order to keep the woman away from him.

"Why?"

"Your fighting style. Allen is always a millisecond ahead of me no matter what. My fighting style is straightforward enough in nature as for him to be able to have that much time to react once my brain draws a strategy," Zoro reasoned. Aila was getting ready to attack, he could see it in her eyes. They didn't have much time. "Yours is inherently unpredictable," he stated.

His tone was low-key apologetic, and it caught Sanji's attention for how unusual it was coming from the swordsman, especially towards him. By the time Sanji turned his stare towards him, there was no trace of an apology or hesitation on Zoro's face, just his usual smirk, a perfect façade.

"Your fighting is chaos."

It was the kind of smirk that had his adrenaline kicking in and a smirk of the same kind slowly lighting Sanji's face. That was more like Zoro: confident and challenging.

"You can beat that last millisecond," Zoro concluded, his smirk now turned into a confident grin. The more he talked, the more he managed to convince himself that Sanji could actually do it. He needed his doubts vanishing, he needed to trust Sanji and stop worrying about his obvious limits and the foreseeable risk he was throwing at him by pairing him up with the most dangerous twin when Sanji was at a low point. Those considerations needed to be gone. They needed a good dose of confidence. Even if Zoro's kept wavering underneath a mask.

The blonde found himself smirking back.

"Good to know. So I only need to confuse the shit out of that bastard."

There went Sanji's confident tone, the one Zoro liked to hear, the one that reassured the crew when something went wrong. Also the one that fueled Zoro's concern as he realized his words had had the effect he wished they hadn't had on the blonde. Motivating Sanji was dangerous. An over-confident Sanji could be lethal, but an over-confident Sanji who wasn't at his best condition could have the opposite effect.

"You need to be really fast," Zoro found himself reminding him, a frown back in place.

"I know."

Zoro pressed his lips together as he focused back on Aila, who seemed to be waiting for something. Her pose was threating. She was ready to attack as soon as Allen saw an opening or created one.

He sighed. There wasn't much more Zoro could do or say to make sure Sanji understood the limits he faced.

Nor did he have the time.

Allen barked an order and Aila ran left while her brother ran right, which had Zoro and Sanji exchanging positions and pressing their backs together. Which offered the twins an opening. Allen had known the possible outcomes of their combined attack and he had bet for the right one. Sanji found the spot he had been about to kick empty. Allen was right at his left. He shot at him and Sanji dodged, a flash of pain running down his spine.

"Cook!"

Sanji blinked, upside-down, and saw Aila's contorted face invading his space. How had she avoided Zoro? Sanji gasped and twirled to the side, barely avoiding her cutting through him. Just that the twirl got his lower back screaming bloody hell at him as he just half managed to regain balance and place his right foot on the floor before kicking upwards and sky walking away from her in time to avoid another hit. She jumped his way as he fell back, but Zoro was back in between them after having dodged Allen's bullets and he counterattacked her move with a powerful blow that had her falling to the floor. Allen appeared by her side and pulled her in time to avoid Zoro slicing her throat, getting her the fuck away from him.

Sanji felt Zoro's hand under his elbow to help him stabilize his balance, but it was there for barely one second. Then Zoro positioned himself in a fighting stance again, breathing hard. Shit, that had been close.

"Didn't you say human reactions change the future he sees?" Sanji groaned. His back was a murderous hell right now.

"And they do. They haven't managed a hit, which they thought they would, else they wouldn't have attacked."

"But they knew they'd have a chance to separate us. They _knew_ how we would react, Zoro, and we hadn't yet made any decision," Sanji opposed.

Zoro shook his head. "No, they didn't know for sure. They are playing a betting game."

Sanji tried to stabilize his breathing.

"Allen sees different outcomes. Every time we decide, we open a new bunch of potential consequences. It's the same when they consider their own actions. They all display possible consequences and responses we may end up giving to them. Allen just bets on which one is most likely to happen."

"What the hell, when have you grown smart? I sure as hell didn't expect your two only existent brain cells to be able to do this much work on their own!"

"Fuck you."

Sanji grew serious again and looked at Allen, frowning a bit.

"Okay, he bets. He is good at betting, then."

"Not enough. They still haven't managed a hit and they have the knowledge advantage here."

Sanji coughed and cleared his throat. "What about we stop waiting for them to choose their best strategy first, then? What about we start attacking instead and leave them with only their own reaction to ponder? I'm kind of sick and tired of waiting for them to place their bets, to be honest."

Zoro let out a feral smirk that managed to hide the slight anxiety building inside him as he thought of his next words.

"I like the plan. We need to separate them as much as we can."

Which meant that Zoro and Sanji had to drift apart again. It wouldn't have bothered Zoro as much hadn't he known that they lost half their strength with that strategy. Their teamwork could have gotten them out of that one with higher chances for them to succeed, but it wasn't a possibility when Sanji couldn't fight one of their opponents. Playing their separate game was their next best option, but Zoro was painfully aware of the risks. The twins were almost unharmed while Zoro and Sanji were already wounded pretty badly. He wasn't as worried for himself as he was for Sanji. Not being able to keep an eye on him when the blonde was having trouble _standing_ settled badly in him. But he had to trust him. He had done the impossible before without Zoro having a heart attack over it and he could, if he didn't trip, get through Allen's last millisecond barrier.

_He can and he will,_ he firmly tried to convince himself.

"Good. Don't let them come back together," Sanji agreed.

"Not a chance."

And just as the twins seemed to be trying to build a strategy, Sanji counted to three under his breath and they kicked into action.

Aila read through their plan right before they put it into action and Allen foresaw the consequences the moment they took the decision, which made them be ready for their attack when they came into their personal space. Just that they hadn't managed to erase the surprise effect that was the fact that Zoro and Sanji risked their position by attacking first. Zoro blocked Aila when she tried to block Sanji's path towards Allen and so Sanji managed to reach him. Aila looked surprised but Zoro didn't register it as much as he simply took advantage of it to force her away from Sanji. His mind had gone into a meditation state a second after they had launched into their strategy. Which meant Aila couldn't read him anymore.

Aila dodged and rolled to the side, barely missing a hit. As soon as she stood up she was throwing a blow and Zoro was blocking and circling her in order to keep her even further away from the blonde. Which she tried to avoid by circling the other way around, but Zoro's fighting instincts were fast and he blocked her again, using all of his strength to make her jump back, almost managing to cause her to lose her footing. She tripped and regained her balance, but the second it took for her to do so bought Zoro the time to cross her defense and land a hit that she just barely dodged, earning her a deep cut by her hip.

In his trance, Zoro smirked. He could sense Aila's creeping despair as she realized she couldn't see anything that her eyes didn't register, as she understood that she was alone with her sword in that fight. Allen was already far away and Zoro wasn't letting her get to him. How had he managed to do that? She groaned in annoyance. If they knew how to switch off their powers, the twins had lost the advantage and Aila was painfully aware of that. The permanent sense of superiority had vanished from her chest and was now replaced with anxiety as she realized that Zoro was out for blood. The smirk he was wearing over a void-of-emotion face creeped her out.

Zoro lived up to his name. He did look like a demon.

Just as she blinked, she started hearing thoughts again and she stared at Zoro with wide eyes. What was he doing? Had he willingly unlocked his mind to her? Zoro's smirk was now challenging, just as his expression, which had apparently come back to life as his brain had done the same.

"Looks like the tables have turned," he commented with a low excited voice.

Aila shivered. She could read through him and she knew that he was happily surprised that their strategy had worked. He hadn't been expecting them to be able to separate the twins this fast and easily. He had been assuming it would be far more difficult because he had been assuming, all along, that the twins were a lethal threat, with or without their powers.

And just now, as he had succeeded to keep them apart easier than he breathed, he realized what Aila didn't want any of them to know: their powers weren't merely a trump card or an accessory to their fighting supremacy; they were their key ability. Without them they were extremely good, but Zoro and Sanji were better, period. That's why Aila had been freaking out the moment Sanji and Zoro had been able to disclose the information they had gathered about the twins to each other. Aila snarled at Zoro. Now she understood why he had disclosed the contents of his brain to her. He had wanted her to know that he _knew_. He had wanted her to be aware of the fact that Zoro knew that he was now in full control of the situation. It was as good a strategy as any, it was meant to intimidate her, and it did.

Aila knew, better than anyone, that knowledge was power. And, suddenly, knowledge had taken Zoro's side. Suddenly she wasn't the omnipotent predator who confused the hell out of her prey under the illusion of being a superior and unreachable fighter. Suddenly she was a mere swordswoman who Zoro could fight on an equal ground. If it wasn't for the fact that Zoro was already pretty wounded while Aila had just started to collect scratches, Zoro would've probably had the upper hand already.

Zoro grinned wider and Aila gasped as everything went mute again. Then Zoro was launching at her, and she could only blindly fight back, trying to pull herself together before Zoro filleted her like Sanji filleted his way towards his delicious cuisine.

In the profundity of his new trance, Zoro wanted to laugh. Now that they knew everything there was to know, the twins were a challenge, but a perfectly doable one. They had got it all wrong from the start.

Not knowing what the twins could do was their enemies' lethal weapon. Their strategy wasn't as much a physical attack as it was an endless psychological assault. The twins knew the weakness in their enemies and used it against them. They presented themselves as omnipotent creatures who couldn't be scratched no matter how hard their opponent tried, which lead to their opponents slowly and unconsciously assuming they couldn't reach them indeed. Knowledge was their weapon and monopolizing it their strategy. They used it so that their opponent ended up placing limits _to himself._

That's what Sanji and Zoro had been doing, even when they had started figuring out the puzzle. They had already entered the fight with anxiety because the twins had been playing their blindfold game even before it had started. It was a psychological race. All their interactions before entering the arena had been planned so as to imprint a confident image of the twins in their perception of them. When you watched them fight, all you could see from the monitors was a pair of extremely good fighters who always seemed to be ahead of their opponents, who always won. It was the first obvious pressure element. It portrayed them as invincible and it made their next opponents enter the fight with a pre-established conception of them. Zoro and Sanji had been even more optimal for them: they hadn't had any knowledge at all to start with since they hadn't seen them fight, but that had merely been a coincidence playing in favour of the twins. Even if they had seen them, they would have walked into the fight being completely blind.

Then came the chaos: when they fought against the twins they saw all of their strategies frustrated, all of their moves blocked or dodged, while the twins seemed to find new opportunities to place a hit where there shouldn't have been any. They kept collecting wounds while the twins remained unstained. And, all along, there was something that felt out of place. Most of the twins' opponents didn't get to that stage of awareness as they were defeated much faster, but Zoro and Sanji had been strong enough as to get through it while everything around them stopped making sense. If they lasted enough, their opponents realized that the twins weren't merely good fighters: there was something else, something that ended up portraying them as omnipotent since they knew and did things that their enemies couldn't for the life of them begin to explain. That led to a fucking ocean of confusion that both kept their brains half distracted and made their already crumbling confidence start burning to ashes. If they couldn't understand what they were fighting, they couldn't properly fight it. The idea rooted in their brains and acted as an inner counterattack to everything they came up with: they started assuming that their hits wouldn't reach their target and so they stopped risking moves and remained mainly inactive and waiting where they may have actually had a chance. It was scary, really. Without much effort, just by being the ones to have the power over knowledge, they managed to turn one's brain into one's enemy.

People didn't normally understand the core of what the twins were doing but, even when they had an idea, they normally weren't able to find a way to counterattack that.

How could you close your mind to someone who was invading it? How could you stop someone from seeing the future without you feeling trapped by it and giving up before trying? Well, Zoro and Sanji had. They had turned them blind.

And just as the twins had lost the knowledge monopoly, they had lost the advantage. And, with that, they had bared what their whole illusion was trying to hide: they were good fighters, but not good enough, at least not for the Strawhat's duo. And just as they realized that, the last piece of the illusion the twins had built fell.

The exact same thoughts went through Sanji's mind as he kept kicking Allen's way, forcing him to retreat and barely giving him time to foresee where the next blow would land and dodge it.

The knowledge they now had turned the twins into easy preys. They couldn't be fooled anymore. Given they were far more wounded than them, given that Sanji still had to manage to get through the last millisecond that still remained standing in Allen's ability, but the twins weren't a superior enemy they couldn't reach anymore. There wasn't a trace of doubt left to belittle their efforts. Now the Strawhat duo felt confident and in control. Now the twins were scared while they were fearless.

The tables had, indeed, turned.

Sanji wondered if Zoro had also come to the same conclusion. He had the weird temptation of going back to his side and drawing a beautiful map for him to understand, but he told himself that Zoro wasn't _that _dense. If he had been able to figure out the extent of Allen's ability with the two brain cells he could connect he should have been able to have figured out the whole scheme by now. It wasn't all that difficult when everything was finally laid in front of them. Zoro should have been perfectly able to realize that the weight they had initially assigned to the twins' fighting skills didn't live up to the expectation, by no means.

Sanji repeatedly kicked Allen's way, not giving him the time to breathe or think of any strategy that wasn't dodging or blocking. Allen was blindly shooting his way, but Sanji was fast to dodge as well, his instincts taking the reigns of his body for good.

The twin turned to the side when Sanji's thoughts transformed into actions a second slower as his back flashed him with pain and he forced himself to still perform the move, and Allen took the chance to not only dodge but shoot right where he had seen Sanji would land. The bullet grazed his arm, earning a groan from him, but Sanji didn't stop. He fell on his hands and started spinning, performing all the moves that came to his mind amidst the raging inferno he had turned into. Allen gasped and jumped back, but he barely had the time to land as the sole of Sanji's foot darted his way and managed to land a hit against his jaw, making him fly a few meters away.

Which Sanji quickly realized was a mistake. He needed Allen near him for his strategy to work. If he sent him flying away he had to close the distance between them again, which gave Allen a slight break and a few seconds to order his visions and predict a longer time-span.

"Shit."

Sanji was already kicking his way towards the twin, but Allen had managed to stand in between a coughing fit. And he definitely saw where some of Sanji's kicks would land, because he had the time to spit blood on the floor before shooting Sanji's way, modifying his first range of movements and earning himself another few seconds to step away from him and towards Zoro.

"No fucking way!"

Sanji ignored the pain hitting him like a punch as he strained his cuts and his back. He ignored it and forced his body to ignore it as well as he kicked against the floor and dragged the tip of his sole with blinding speed as he rushed his sprint towards the brunette, lighting his leg up in the process. He threw the kick right before he was in any range to properly hit Allen, but a fire rain flew the twin's way, catching him by surprise and making him retreat just in time, his race towards Zoro effectively interrupted as Sanji used the opportunity to stand in his way and attack again.

Sanji frowned. Allen still had the millisecond. He'd have to be faster. Even if his back didn't agree with him, even if his body was screaming at him to stop.

Had he been a normal human being he would've probably slowed down by now, that if his body hadn't already given up on him, but he was no normal human being. Just as things became more complicated, just as his body fucking _pleaded_ for this torture to stop (and he knew his back was getting worse by the moment, he could _feel_ something about to give in inside), adrenaline kicked in and he still pressed harder.

Sanji ran towards Allen and he went back to cornering him. Allen swore out loud as he barely had the time to dodge. He had stopped shooting a while ago, he didn't have time for anything else but to defend himself and he was having a hard time managing to do so. Sanji flipped in the air, performing the first moves that came to mind, forcing himself to let his instincts work instead of his brain. He needed to press even harder.

Sanji was now a tornado. He combined flipping around with sky-walking and falling from up the sky like a damn fire storm, then spinning around with kicking left, right, up and down, then dodging any potential attacks that never managed to come his way. He turned and contorted, and his back screamed the more he moved, but there came a point where the pain was more of a fueling sensation than a throwback. The burn his whole body felt with the strain, the flashing and roaring pain he felt as he pushed himself passed his limits to get passed that damn millisecond; they kept pushing him forward. It burned and it hurt, but Sanji had learned to turn those sensations into fighting spirit and he sure as hell was finishing that shit in the next few minutes: he was sick and tired of that fight. For how much he usually loved battles and challenges, he was sure about to throw himself off a cliff if this one didn't come to an end soon enough.

And just as he did a flip, his back decided to commit mutiny and he felt something breaking inside. He didn't know what broke or if something _actually _broke, but he felt the _crack_, and next thing he saw was red. And then his brain shut down on him as he fell to the ground in a silent visceral scream. His voice didn't make it past his throat and all oxygen left him, his lungs unable to capture more. All he felt was pain and he swore this was one of the worst pain experiences he had had in his life. He couldn't hear, nor could he breathe, let alone see. So he didn't see nor hear Allen shooting his way. He only felt it when a bullet went through his stomach and left his body through his back, dangerously close to the critical point in his lower back, dragging another scream out of him, just that no sound left his mouth. The piercing pain added to the deafening and blinding one, and then he felt another bullet pierce through his shoulder, too close to his heart.

It was his instincts that made him roll to the side right before the third bullet made its way in his brain. Then he was scrambling to his feet, but he wasn't processing it as much as he was doing it, all of his other senses fighting to get some air into his lungs, but the more he tried the more the pain accentuated. His back was _screaming_. It was on fire. Shit. Oh, _shit_. He coughed blood, but no air came out with it. Then, when his instincts registered a new wave of bullets coming his way, as his feet kicked him away from them, another flash of protesting pain hit him and finally managed to make him scream, releasing the tight hold that had been placed in his lungs. Next he was breathing in, hard and in deep intakes, and he swore that doing so hurt like a bitch, but he could barely stop himself from trying to avoid death by asphyxiation. A pathetic whimper came out of his throat as he coughed more blood and tried not to abort _every_ oxygen intake with a hysterical coughing fit. He was almost sure there were tears in his eyes, but he couldn't tell if the wet sensation was due to that, blood or sweat. Maybe all of them.

Sanji dodged again as pain kept assaulting him. He couldn't see Allen as much as he could sense his threat coming his way. Why his way and not Zoro's anymore he couldn't really tell, but he figured that Allen had been graced with the opportunity to finish their most dangerous opponent and he was all about it now. He sensed his brain starting to process shit and, in between trying not to choke, regulating his breathing and trying not to let his body succumb to the excruciating pain, he forced himself to blink hard and clear his vision. He couldn't go on like this.

His hand found its way to his pockets and next thing he knew he was introducing five or six of Choper's pills in his mouth, not that he could tell how many exactly he had grabbed. Then he fished two more and swallowed them, and he swore he had been about to choke once more as he tried to swallow and a coughing fit attacked him again, but he managed to get them into his organism. He tasted blood and used it to help him swallow, then he coughed again and restrained the urge to puke, which was a mission in itself.

He dodged. A few seconds later, as he was in the middle of scrambling to his feet after having fallen, just barely missing being sewed with bullets, he felt a burning numbing sensation take over his body. It was a different burn than the painful one he had been feeling. Just as the second one took over the first, the pain started to recede and he regained his vision and a bit of his hearing. It started with a slight beeping noise that made him want to break things out of frustration, then it turned into far away crowd chants, then he started registering them as closer and closer, then he heard Allen shooting. Just as he heard the bang, his eyes lifted to locate Allen, and he was already in front of him. Sanji gasped, choked and dodged as he tried not to get asphyxiated again.

Just as he stepped back, he felt his body start to sink into a trance. A burning trance, but still a trance. He blinked hard. His brain felt slightly foggy. Sanji blinked again and shook his head. No time for this. The only thing that mattered was the fact that the pain was receding. There was something undeniably _wrong_ with his back, he could tell even under the increasing effect of the painkillers he had just ingested. But the important thing was the fact that he was slowly regaining conscious control of his body. And he had to use it in his own favour as long as he could, before that torture came back and he definitely broke.

* * *

Aila smiled in between the assault and Zoro forced himself to keep his mind closed to that. He had to keep it locked, else she'd use it against him. Yet, he sensed her smile.

"Things don't look all that good anymore for your team," she stated in between deep pants. She was having a tough time blocking everything that came her way.

Zoro didn't listen to that, he merely heard it, but the words sunk in and an alarm destabilized his trance, his heart stopping for a second.

Aila used the distraction to attack, but Zoro was fast to lock his brain to her once more and his instincts got him out of the tight spot as he blocked, dodged, circled her and attacked. Aila turned around in time to block and retreat, but Zoro kept chasing her and, the more time went by, the slower she was and the faster he got her. Aila was getting tired and Zoro was catching up to her. Just as he had thought, once her ability was nullified, Aila wasn't that much of a challenge. Zoro told himself that he had to press a little harder. He was tired and wounded, way more than Aila, but Aila was also getting tired and he was better than her. He could do it and he had to.

Zoro growled and launched himself at her with renewed energy. Aila's words were still stinging and had made him anxious even in his 'unconsciousness'. That meant something had gone wrong for Sanji, which meant Zoro was now in a rush. He couldn't afford things going wrong for Sanji, and the more time he wasted trying to defeat Aila, the more Sanji's chances of succeeding would flop.

Aila gasped and dodged, but Zoro was in her personal space and he wasn't intending on leaving it any time soon, at least not until he had managed the victorious blow. And Aila knew, because she started freaking out as her blocking and dodging became more and more scarce and close to failing. At that point, one missed step would be Zoro's trump card, and Aila couldn't afford it. Zoro found an opening and managed a cut in her arm. Aila grunted and jumped back, intending on landing a blow, but Zoro forced her on the defensive again and, suddenly, she wasn't even allowed the time to breathe.

At that point Zoro knew that time would be the deciding factor in that fight. It was a matter of time before he defeated Aila. Now he knew he _would_ defeat her. But it was also a matter of time before Sanji's body gave in and earned him his own defeat. Zoro groaned. He needed to be faster. _Way_ faster.

* * *

The burning feeling kept increasing and so kept decreasing the pain. There was something weird about it, maybe it was the way his brain seemed to waver a little at times, but he downright ignored it.

However, Sanji was still having trouble, so he kept it low-key as he limited his actions to dodging for a while, not giving away the fact that his body was slowly but increasingly igniting inside. Allen was regaining his confidence as he intensified his assault without Sanji giving an actually decent response.

Good.

Sanji played the twin's game and waited. He waited until his body felt like it was his own, and he waited until the right moment came.

And when Allen stood right in front of him, aiming a clear shot at his head, he found Sanji's smirk and then his head was gone and the bullet missed its target. Allen's eyes widened in disbelief as he watched Sanji crouch impossibly low and bend in an impossible angle. What felt even more impossible was the sight of Sanji's foot flying towards his face from that position. But it _did_ fly his way and Allen barely had the time to let himself fall to the floor in order to avoid what would have otherwise been a fatal hit. Just that Sanji was back on the offensive and not giving him a break.

The more he intensified the attack the more he felt his body protesting through the daze the painkillers had gifted him with, but Sanji didn't pay attention to that, he just became more aggressive, faster, precise. And he had to admit that Allen was indeed a good fighter since he was still managing to dodge most of the hits with such short foretelling time-span in front of him. But Allen was getting tired and his moves were starting to ooze nervousness, and the more Sanji realized that, the harder he pressed, pushing himself to the very last limit of his resistance in order to reach the speed that would make him win. The hits became closer and just barely failed.

At one point, Allen could only retreat, he couldn't even shoot back.

At that point, it took Sanji thirty more seconds to manage a deciding unpredictable kick against Allen's hand, which resulted in Allen's hand being broken and one of his guns flying to the other end of the stadium. Allen let a pained scream out and dodged the next hit, just barely so. Sanji smirked wider. The pain was still there and he could still feel the strain in his back, but it didn't interfere with his moves. It didn't blind him, it didn't deafen him. Instead, what he felt the most was that burning sensation taking over his limbs, one that mixed with the heat his body sunk in when he combusted and lit up, turning himself into a blast of fire.

He saw it in Allen's eyes. He saw that, at that moment, he could only foresee defeat. He saw his eyes flicker in despair as he seemed to look for a way out, but he didn't seem to find any. Sanji was suddenly too fast for him. Sanji was suddenly too fast for _himself_, but he didn't give a fuck. Adrenaline had kicked in again. And he used every bit of it to push himself where he hadn't been able to before. Without the roaring pain getting in his way, he could and _had_ to be faster, more precise, better. He couldn't settle for half-assing it and so he wouldn't. Instead, he gathered every bit of strength remaining in him and turned it into speed. Allen took two hits before he started panicking and shooting wherever he saw the blur of Sanji's figure spinning around in a chaotic manner. He couldn't tell if he was upside down or standing, he couldn't tell where his limbs where except for when a kick seemed to appear from out of the flaming tornado that Sanji had turned into. With each spin, flames flew around and, with them, a kick rain followed.

Sanji saw it in Allen's eyes. He saw it when all the outcomes that led to disaster narrowed to one, and so he saw it in his eyes when his next kick would finish the game.

And so it did.

Sanji kicked straight upwards and against his chin, making Allen fly like a torpedo. Just that Sanji was faster and, by the time Allen started to fall back to the ground, he had sky-walked his way passed his limp body. Sanji felt his body combust, the pain started coming back and his senses blurred, but he forced himself to gather what he had left and turned it into an axe kick that launched Allen straight to the floor face first, the impact brutal enough as to send stones and dust flying around his now unmoving body.

Sanji heard the roar around him and he swore he would go deaf. He tried to sky walk his way down, but he felt himself start to lose footing when he was a few meters away from the ground. Just as the fire around him extinguished, he felt his strength escape him like a flood, and the burning sensation started turning into a numbing one. Sanji tripped in the air, trying but failing to find purchase on nothingness. He'd manage to place his footing right every now and then, but by the time he was three or four meters away from the floor, his feet definitely failed to hold him in the air. He felt himself fall and he tried to kick upwards, but his body didn't respond. Sanji sighed. It wasn't that much of a fall anyways. As he fell, he saw the crowd going crazy, their screams attacking his ear drums and their faces those of bewilderment. He swore he could hear Luffy's voice among all of the others'. He grunted when his body hit the ground, and he fell into a new coughing fit, just that it didn't hurt as much as it used to. Sanji blinked and discovered blood leaving his mouth more than he felt it. He groaned and forced his body to lift him up, first with the use of his arms and hands, then, as he lifted his upper body and felt the strain in his back, with his knees. His body shook when he stood up, but he breathed in, deep and hard, and steeled himself.

Sanji greeted his teeth, trying to concentrate. His mind was hazy. He blinked, again, and pulled himself together. Realization sunk in as he saw Allen laying on the floor, unmoving, his face hidden by blood and dark hair.

He found a smile building in his face as he realized he had done it.

Zoro had been right.

He had beat the last millisecond.

His smile turned into a victorious grin and his fist threw itself into the air, earning a crazed yell from the crowd. Sanji winced a little at how loud they were, but the grin kept itself in place. He could swear he was chuckling a bit, but he couldn't really tell. _Finally_. It was over.

He heard the crowd's gasp about the same time he heard Zoro's voice yelling at his back.

"Cook! _Move_!"

He registered the words but filtered them with delay. His daze was slowly creeping on him, and he felt his body as if it partly belonged to someone else. He turned around as fast as he could once it registered, but Aila was too close already. About five meters away, with a few cuts in her body, her sword raised and ready to deliver a blow, her face one of despair. Sanji blinked. What was she doing here? How had she escaped Zoro? Thoughts piled in his head but the one telling him to get the fuck away wasn't processed until Aila swung her sword. He barely missed it, but he got his footing wrong and, the moment he landed back, he lost his balance and fell to the ground.

He saw the sword fall his way and he registered his leg kicking it away with more force than he would have ever used on anything a women held. Aila almost lost her weapon and she scrambled to get a grasp of it, to grab the last thing that held a hope for her. Her expression was one of absolute shock as she hadn't been expecting that reaction from Sanji. To be fair, Sanji hadn't been expecting it either, he had just acted, but he doubted he had complete control of his body anymore at this point.

Just as she managed to grab the sword before it fell out of her grasp, her body froze. Her eyes stared in disbelief at the sword that had pierced through her abdomen from her back. The sword disappeared and her hands started trembling as she tried to use them to cover the wound, which kept bleeding profusely. Her eyes landed on her brother and she suddenly looked vulnerable and fearful. A panic attack took over her as she started hyperventilating, her eyes filling with tears. Something told Sanji that she wasn't panicking as much for herself as she was for her brother. Then, Zoro walked from behind her and stood by her side, looking at her with an indecipherable expression. He used the handle of his now bloody sword to hit her in the head, then she was out cold.

Zoro watched as Sanji, who was feeling weaker by the moment, scrambled to his feet and held her right before she fell to the ground, holding her with infinite care. Zoro frowned but didn't say a word as he watched him pick her up bridal style and carry her towards where her brother was.

He would never understand it.

She had been trying to get his head, he had almost killed him, yet Sanji still looked at her like he had sinned when it was Zoro who had pierced her with his sword. The way he held her, almost as if she was the most precious thing he had ever had in his hands, made Zoro want to puke. It was like this with all the women that came through Sanji's life, but it felt especially wrong with Aila. He almost wanted to tear his gaze away, an uncomfortable twist getting the best of his stomach. But he didn't. He kept watching until Sanji had Aila laying by Allen's side, almost as if they had gone to sleep holding hands. Zoro watched Sanji's figure and felt a shiver run down his spine.

He looked like a wreck.

The crowd had gone wild around them and the commentator was yelling like mad announcing them as the ultimate victors, but none of this registered in Zoro's brain. He didn't feel like celebrating. He wanted to punch himself. The moment Sanji had sent Allen flying, he had definitely seen that. He had also seen the ball of flames that Sanji had become while chasing after the twin to deliver the finishing blow. Both Aila and him had stopped their fight, which Zoro was about to win, in order watch. But then he had seen Sanji falling and all his attention slipped away as worry took over him. Next thing he knew, Aila had run passed him and towards the cook, despair fueling her to be faster than Zoro. She had almost killed Sanji there. Zoro had barely avoided it. And now Sanji was delicately brushing her hair out of her face and quietly apologizing, ignoring the cheers and the announcements as much as Zoro did.

Sanji saw the paramedics run towards the twins and he stepped back, letting them take them away. He turned towards Zoro and saw his obviously bitter expression but he couldn't bring himself to say anything. He walked towards him and realized he was limping, but he also ignored it.

Zoro never attacked from the back. _Never_. It went against his fighting morals, it went against everything he had learned when it came to his noble swordsmanship. He had only done so twice in his life and both had been to protect Sanji. The first time had been back in the island where Nami got gravely hurt, when a brunette had been about to strangle the blonde to death without him defending himself. This was the second time he did something like this.

Zoro had given up his own beliefs and swordsman's principles for Sanji's sake, twice now.

Zoro was painfully aware of that. And so was Sanji.

But none of them commented on it. Zoro wasn't going to apologize for hurting a woman and Sanji wasn't going to give him shit for it. He didn't have the right to complain. Zoro wouldn't give Sanji shit for not properly standing against Aila and Sanji wasn't going to thank him for helping him out. They hadn't talked about it back when Nami got hurt either: there was nothing to comment.

Both of them were aware of the heavy weight of what Zoro had done for Sanji. Both knew how dangerous that was. And so both of them would ignore it and never talk about it; it was a silent agreement.

Zoro watched Sanji approach him and his eye lingered in the way Sanji's mouth curved into a small tired smile. It was a weird sight, seeing him without a cigarette in between his lips. He didn't even seem to have the strength to light himself one. As he finally got by his side, Sanji lightly patted Zoro's shoulder, not saying a word, and that was the closest gesture to a 'thank you' that Zoro would receive. None of them felt actual joy in winning anymore, nor did they feel thrilled by the cheers and chants. They just wanted to go home, in all honesty.

From then on, everything started happening in sort of a blur where they switched on some kind of autopilot mode.

Their attention was caught by some staff members signaling them to get to the center of the enormous stadium, where the chants reverberated way louder and a horde of organizers were building a podium at a stupidly blinding speed. By the time they got there, it was already standing and a short man hurriedly made his way up there followed by five men in suits who very much looked like the directors of the whole damn thing. Zoro had been walking by Sanji's side, ready to catch him if he fell but not daring to touch him. He couldn't help but notice his accentuated limp and how he wasn't able to hide it at all. Sanji was usually really good at hiding things like that. Zoro gritted his teeth. No, he _definitely_ didn't feel any sort of joy at all.

Sanji kept blinking hard with each step. His head was being funny and it kept clouding by the moment. He barely managed to get his footing right. The pain was almost gone, but there was a certain stiffness in his back that barely allowed him to move the lower half of his body. He was sure that, hadn't it been for the painkillers, he wouldn't have been able to walk at all. His suit was drenched in blood and he wasn't even bothering on trying to press against the bullet wounds anymore.

Why the organizers forced them to go get the trophy before a damn doctor stopped the bleeding _at the very least_ was beyond Zoro's understanding of the logical order of things, but he wasn't even questioning shit anymore: if they wanted them to get the trophy like the unbeatable heroes they wanted them to look like, they better do it soon and get it over with so that a fucking doctor could take a look at Sanji as soon as possible. All the while, Sanji's breathing kept getting heavier and Zoro's nerves kept being fried.

The commentator was yelling something and getting the public pumped up, but Zoro didn't listen to it as he kept his eye fixed on Sanji's nape. The blonde stood in front of an improvised stair that led to the podium, waiting for the organizers to signal them to walk up there. Zoro was in a really foul mood and he honestly felt like cutting some heads around him so that some people would shut the fuck up and let them be. He had never been one to boast over his victories but he had never really minded victorious ceremonies like this either, just that he _did_ today. He was sick and tired of the damn competition, the twins, the shitty organizers, the absent doctors, Terevera, its stupid prices and all of the bastards living in it. He was _so_ ready to set sail already.

Sanji seemed to sense the murderous aura behind him, because he slowly turned towards him with a raised eyebrow and a mocking smirk. Zoro frowned. Why the fuck was Sanji smirking? There was nothing to smile about.

"Come on, Marimo. We all know you have a reputation to live up to but a smile wouldn't kill you. Do it for the crowd."

Zoro frowned harder. He hated it when Sanji played the tough cool role when he was barely standing, almost as if to reassure others of the fact that there was nothing to worry about when he himself should be worried about his own state. Not that Zoro was much better with that, but never mind.

"I owe these bastards nothing."

Sanji grinned a bit, looking half-heartedly amused. Zoro could tell he wanted to get out of there as soon as he could as well, but he was taking the time to humor the show; another of Sanji's annoying habits. He seemed to have pulled himself together a bit, at least. He was now standing straight and, hadn't it been for the overall trembling of his body, which Zoro could see from up close, nobody could've told he was barely holding on.

Zoro didn't hear the commentator indicating them to go up the stadium as he was too busy cursing in the privacy of his mind, but Sanji did and turned around to grab his haramaki and pull him behind him. His hand was trembling, so Zoro forced himself to look elsewhere. Sanji did an admirable job out of going up the staircase like he was in full control of the situation, almost as if he wasn't limping or going through a bit of a hell inside. His shoulders were straight, even with the bullet wound, and his step was firm, even with the limp. Zoro followed Sanji around and copied him when the blonde started to politely shake hands with the directors, placing a fake attractive smile in his face that seemed to please everyone around him. The crowd's cheering was starting to become annoying as fuck to Zoro, but he could hardly ignore it with how loud it was. He didn't bring himself to smile, but he shook hands just like Sanji had and went through the whole bullshit they were being dragged into. Needless to say that Zoro and social interactions didn't get along all that well, so he was a bit lost, but Sanji was fast to grab his wrist and lead him towards the front of the podium as soon as the formalities were over, and Zoro let him lead him around.

He watched without real interest as one of the directors handed them a big ass golden cup. Sanji took it upon himself to get a hold of it since Zoro was all but intending on collaborating, which earned him a kick behind his knee from the blonde, who was starting to be pissed off at Zoro's lack of effort.

"Fucking smile and let's get it over with," Sanji masked by his side. A second later he was raising the cup in the air with a victorious grin and the crowd went crazily wild. Zoro was stuck frowning at him, but Sanji was fast to get a hold of his forearm and force it up in the air, which Zoro ended up humoring with a sigh and a scowl; the gesture made a lot of men and women in the stands comment on how manly and cool he was. Now he swore he could hear Luffy screaming bullshit at them, but he couldn't, for the life of him, locate him amidst the crowd, nor did he have the time to decipher what he was saying. He had a feeling that he'd feel embarrassed if he ever got to actually know, anyway.

They kept turning around so as to face everyone in the public, Zoro half dragged by Sanji, until he felt Sanji's hand press painfully harder against his forearm, which he had been forcing him to keep raised all along. Zoro turned to look at him in confusion and found Sanji blinking hard, almost as if he couldn't see properly. Sanji looked utterly confused. The strength he was using against Zoro's forearm increased for a moment before quickly disappearing. Zoro was fast to yank the cup out of Sanji's other hand and get a hold of his free arm the moment Sanji's fingers stopped grabbing him, which kept the blonde standing at the last second. Zoro used the hold on Sanji's arm to pull him upwards a bit just as his knees gave in, but Sanji was quick to pull himself together and stabilize his footing, helping himself with Zoro's pull. Sanji blinked again and frowned, not taking the time to acknowledge the fact that Zoro was glaring daggers at his profile. He was now standing straight again, but he didn't free himself of Zoro's tight hold on his arm and Zoro didn't let go of him for a moment, worried that the blonde would lose his balance again. Zoro's scowl was dark. It's almost as if Sanji had been about to faint, and Sanji didn't normally let himself do that until everything ended and he was alone with himself for him to acknowledge the fact that he was tired and worn out as fuck.

He almost thanked God (and he didn't believe in God) when the organizers finally instructed them to get down the stage and follow them towards the clinic. Sanji yanked his arm out of Zoro's grasp and Zoro pursed his lips a bit, following him as he started walking down the stairs with a certain level of stability. As soon as they stepped on the arena's ground, Zoro took a few quick steps in order to stand by Sanji's side as they walked through the stadium in between an ocean of chants and cheers.

He was half expecting it when Sanji's knees gave in once more and the blonde tripped, so Zoro's hand darted to get a hold of his biceps right before he could start to fall, and he pulled him back into a standing position. Just as Sanji started blinking frantically, Zoro decided to fuck it and wrapped his arm around Sanji's back instead, right under his arms, and held him tight and close to his side, keeping him standing and forcing him to walk. Sanji's weight fell on him as he seemed to be unable to coordinate his steps. Zoro made it look like Sanji was rather walking on his own, but he was actually being half dragged. Something started churning inside of Zoro, so he hurried his steps towards the door behind which the doctors were waiting. Why couldn't they come to pick them up? What the fuck was this nonsense show they were being forced to pull?

"My legs…"

Zoro looked at Sanji as he forced him to walk, his scowl growing darker by the second. Sanji was still blinking, harder than before, and he seemed to be unable to see what he had in front of him.

"I can barely feel my legs," he muttered. His voice came out half slurred, but Zoro picked up the alarm in his tone.

"Come on, cook, we are almost there," Zoro urged as he pressed Sanji more firmly to his side, hoping to provide him with a bit of stability.

He didn't want anyone to see Sanji like this. Sanji was a badass motherfucker and he wouldn't let him be portrayed as anything else. The mere thought of Sanji falling to his knees in front of that blood-thirsty crowd made Zoro want to throw up, so he shook him a bit to accommodate him better and force him to stand straight.

"Pull it together just for a bit longer," he insisted with his jaw clenched.

Sanji gritted his teeth in pain and frustration and he gathered all of his self-awareness to find some control over his lower body. He swore he would get a headache, especially with how blurry everything was becoming around him, but he managed to force his legs to move on their own, although he felt them weighting way more than normal. Zoro was muttering something along the lines of 'come on, shit cook' and 'we are almost there' by his side, but it came to a point where Sanji was barely able to process it. Yet, he managed to keep himself standing straight using the arm he had around Zoro's shoulders to press down on them and lift himself up a bit, and he let Zoro help him walk as he ordered his legs to move step by step, which somehow became a challenge. Yet, he managed to keep them moving until they got passed the doors that hid them from the crowd's stare.

At that point Sanji let out a pained grunt and let the doctors take him away from Zoro and towards an empty bed. To say that Zoro wanted to follow the blonde around was an understatement, but he kept himself in place, knowing that Sanji would give him shit because of it afterwards.

The twins were nowhere to be seen, but Zoro figured they had been taken to a separate room.

Sanji started to gather himself together a bit as he sat down on the bed and regulated his breathing, his vision clearing quite a bit, which made him sigh in a bit of relief. He swore he didn't feel his legs anymore. Two doctors forced him to lay down on the mattress, which made him hiss, but he did as he was told. He didn't even have the strength to fight them away.

"His back is fucked," Zoro warned in too much of a loud tone from the other end of the room, which earned him a few nods from the doctors and a frown from the blonde, who urged him to mind his own damn business with a glare. He really hated doctors poking him around and examining him as if he was the subject of an experiment and he didn't need Zoro meddling in this as well.

One of them congratulated Sanji on the magnificent fight he had performed, but Sanji ignored him in favour of trying to clear his mind, which was annoyingly foggy for no reason at all. He was starting to feel drowsy.

A female doctor with blonde hair came Zoro's way, but Zoro was already waving her off before she had a chance to touch him.

"Tend to him first, he is pretty fucked," he ordered in what could be perceived as a defensive tone.

"There's two doctors tending to him already. Sit down and behave," she firmly replied, and her frown reminded him of Chopper's own unwavering one. She wasn't going to feel intimidated by him nor was he going to manage to drive her way.

"But-"

"No 'buts'."

Zoro groaned in annoyance and sat down on his own mattress, glaring at her as she started to examine his wounds. She ordered him to lay down so that she could extract the bullet he had trapped in his hip region and Zoro scowled hard as he totally lost sight of Sanji. He could only hear him protest with a deep slur every now and then, but at some point he stopped hearing the blonde's voice and his alarm peaked. His doctor told him off as he half sat up to take a look at Sanji only to find him sleeping.

Typical.

Just that there was something weird about it. Sanji's breathing was usually pretty deep and labored when he let himself fall asleep after a fight; Zoro could call that kind of breathing 'familiar' by now. Now it was shallow and slow, his chest barely moving. Zoro's expression turned into a worried one as he sensed something wasn't going as it normally would.

"I told you to lay down!"

His doctor's hand slapped flat against his chest and she made use of incredible strength, forcing him down again without him having a chance to resist. Damn, that doctor was no joke.

"He is going to be fine," she stated after a while, her tone softer.

Zoro didn't appreciate the reassurance. She should be tending to Sanji as well. There was something definitely wrong with him.

It barely took a few minutes for him to register Chopper's voice booming through the internal corridors that lead to the infirmary, and Zoro winced a bit at the tone he was using, which he knew meant bad news.

"Where the fuck is that idiot?!" the reindeer screeched as he kicked the infirmary's door down making use of his ginormous human form, which made the doctors in the room scream in shock at his intrusion.

Zoro sighed and pointed at the other end of the room. Thanks fuck Chopper was there.

"You!" Chopper took a second to stop by his side and glare daggers at him, which informed Zoro of the fact that he was doomed as well indeed. His brownish finger almost got incrusted in the swordsman's skull. "_You_ wait here and _don't move_ a fucking inch! You are both idiots, I swear!"

Zoro didn't even nod, but he wouldn't have had the time because Chopper was already stomping Sanji's way with the most dramatic murderous aura Zoro had seen in a while.

"Oi! Sanji! Wake up!" he ordered as he batted the doctors away and got a hold of Sanji's face in order to try to make him look at him. "Hey! You can't sleep, wake the fuck up!" he insisted. Zoro winced at the way Chopper started slapping Sanji's cheeks, but the blonde kept sleeping, his breathing almost unnoticeable.

Zoro sat up as his doctor, who had remained unfazed by Chopper barging in the room, told him to do so. She had already extracted the bullet in his hip, sterilized the wound, sewed it and bandaged it, and now she wanted to inspect the wound in his shoulder.

"Oi! Zoro!"

Zoro cringed a bit as Chopper turned around with the most extreme pissed off expression he had ever seen him pull.

"How many pills has he ingested today?"

"Uh… A few?" Zoro eloquently answered. He wasn't really processing what was going on and Chopper's mood was nothing short of overwhelming and overly-stressing. His brain had done enough work for today; it couldn't work under pressure anymore.

"Zoro, this is serious."

"He took three first thing in the morning…" he made the effort to recall. Then he scrunched his nose. "And I didn't see it but I am pretty sure he took some more before the match… maybe."

Chopper's eyes went wide and Zoro didn't like it one bit. He heard him mutter something on the lines of 'what the fuck' and he knew something was definitely wrong. Chopper didn't usually talk like this.

Then Chopper was back to shaking Sanji and slapping his face, this time harsher, earning a few yelps from the other doctors, who told him to stop, to no avail.

"Sanji, wake up! You can't sleep, do you hear me? Oi! Sanji, listen to me!" he kept yelling. "Sanji, how many pills did you ingest during the fight? Did you think I wouldn't notice, you idiot?!"

Zoro scrunched his nose in confusion. What was Chopper talking about? Had Sanji taken any more pills during the fight? Zoro hadn't seen it… He blinked. There were cameras they couldn't see filming them and showing everything through giant monitors around the stadium, of course Chopper would have noticed it if Sanji had ingested them, but… had he? Really now? He should've known they could hurt him, right?

"Sanji!"

A particularly loud slap.

Sanji let his blue orbs appear in between his long eyelashes in slow motion, almost as if his eyelids were too heavy for him to open, and Chopper shook him more violently, trying to get his attention.

"Sanji, how many pills have you ingested during the fight?" he tried again, holding his face in his oversized hand in an attempt to make him focus his sight on the reindeer.

Zoro almost sighed in relieve. If Sanji was able to regain his consciousness it meant he wasn't all that fucked. Or so he tried to tell himself.

When Sanji didn't answer, Chopper squeezed his face in his hand and shook it twice, three times, making Sanji frown and scrunch his nose at the harsh treatment. A weak complaint left his lips and Chopper forced him to look his way with more insistence.

"Sanji."

Sanji reopened his eyes, almost glaring at his doctor. He only wanted to sleep and so he let him know with an _almost_ understandable growl.

"No, Sanji, you can't sleep. Open your eyes. Come on, listen to me: how many pills did you take during the fight?"

The blonde looked confused but all Chopper could really see was the way his eyes were blood-shot, which made him start to lose his patience.

"Sanji. _How many_?" his tone was tough and each of his words was punctuated with a harsh squeeze and a violent shake.

Sanji blinked a few times, trying to process the question, and his brain seemed to slowly understand, but his throat felt dry and words hardly left his mouth, so he had to make a huge effort to concentrate into what he had to answer.

"He is losing a lot of blood, let us do our job," one of the doctors prodded as he tried to get Chopper away from Sanji.

Chopper turned to him and pushed him aside rather aggressively, which was nothing like him. Zoro watched the scene unfold with no real understanding of what was going on. Everything was confusing and Chopper's reactions weren't helping him get rid of the anxious feeling weighting at the pit of his stomach.

"Get lost. You haven't prevented the blood loss until the damn show was over, so don't you dare tell me how _my_ job needs to be done," the reindeer growled, and he actually looked intimidating. He wasted no time in turning back to Sanji, intending on asking again, but Sanji was already answering.

"Seven… maybe eight," he managed to get out in a lazy murmur.

Zoro's eye grew the size of a fucking melon as he heard the answer. What. The. Fuck. What had Sanji been thinking? He felt a violent tug in his chest and the gates of worry disappeared to let it flood his whole body. What had Sanji done?

Chopper's deafening silence confirmed the fact that something was utterly wrong. He would normally scream bloody hell at whoever did something medically retarded, and he had expected him to do so this time, but the reindeer barely gritted his teeth and stood still like a statue for a few seconds. At some point he blinked and let out a deep exhale as he tried to calm himself down. When he spoke, his tone was low and dead cold. Zoro shivered as soon as he heard him.

"Connect him to an electrocardiograph right now," he ordered to no one in particular, but the doctors around him seemed to get the graveness of the picture as they all started fumbling around the room in search for everything they'd need. Chopper held Sanji tighter as his eyes started to slid close. "Sanji. Sanji, you can't sleep, do you hear me?"

When Sanji didn't manage a coherent answer Chopper turned to the nearest doctor and ordered him to keep him awake no matter what, then he left Sanji in his hands and went to help the rest carry an electrocardiograph charged with tubes and screens towards his bed. Zoro had never seen that particular model, but he guessed Chopper knew how to work it anyway.

"He'll be fine," Zoro's doctor reassured him again. Zoro didn't even look at her as she tended to his body. He kept his stare on Sanji, unable to tell if his eyes were open or not.

"Chopper?" he found himself uttering out, for no particular reason, his voice thin.

"He has fucking overdosed," the reindeer chewed out with a growl, but he didn't take the time to look at Zoro as he started inserting a needle in Sanji's wrist.

Zoro's face went blank. He had guessed that much, but Chopper's tone didn't settle well in him _at all_. It was the equivalent of an alarm bell.

And then he heard a familiar voice which, in his overall confusion, he was half shocked to hear in that room, but he confirmed that his owner was none other than his captain as Luffy barged into the infirmary in between cheers and crazy congratulatory yells that died in his mouth as soon as he felt the atmosphere the room had sunk in. His lively black eyes looked confused and his whole body got into a tense stance. After him, Nami made her hurried way inside the room, her face one of plain worry as she didn't hesitate to walk straight towards where Sanji was.

"How is he?" she asked. Zoro couldn't believe she sounded this concerned. He had half expected her to walk in there already claiming her money, but it was apparently the last thing in her head as her priority was to check on the blonde. Zoro almost felt grateful for that. Just that he didn't have time to feel anything else than worry as Sanji didn't react to her presence at all, which was weird and alarming in itself.

Chopper kept operating the machine with one of the doctor's help as he gave her a side glance and waved her away. "Not now, Nami. Please, give him some space."

Nami bit her lip. She recognized the wrongness of the situation in Chopper's tone and she looked down at Sanji, who kept being shaken by a man in a white doctor outfit. She frowned right away.

"Should he be sleeping?" she asked.

Chopper stopped his actions and brusquely turned around only to find Sanji with his eyes closed and his breathing almost inexistent. He sent a venomous glare at the doctor holding the blonde.

"I told you to keep him awake!"

"I am trying, but he won't respond!" the man retorted in an almost defensive tone.

"Well, fucking try _harder_!" Zoro barked from the bed he was sitting in, his patience slipping away as fast as Sanji's consciousness.

He stood up fully intending on punching Sanji in the face to wake him up, but his doctor pushed him back and warningly glared at him.

"If you don't want me to sedate you, you better stay in your damn lane."

Zoro glared at her and restrained the urge to hurt her. He restrained the urge to hurt _everyone_ in that damn room, which kept boiling by the minute. Then he felt Luffy's hand on his arm and he instantly calmed down. He could totally sense the order oozing from that simple gesture. The swordsman clenched his jaw and fixed a glare on the damn blonde. What was he playing at? It wasn't all that difficult, he only had to stay the fuck awake.

"Do you need anything?" he heard Nami ask Chopper. "Can we help?"

Chopper pressed a few last buttons and the room was suddenly filled with a constant but slow beep that lit a screen with small peaks every few seconds in an otherwise flat white line. It was weird to think that Sanji's heart beat was represented by that sound. It was so weak… With every beep, Zoro's anxiety increased tenfold.

"There's this purple bottle filled with a clear liquid on the third shelf by the door of the infirmary," Chopper told her as he tried to relax and focus. "I need you to bring me that from the Sunny. It should help counter the effect of the drug he has been ingesting. He has overdosed."

"Okay."

"Nami, I need you to be fast," Chopper blurted, concern showing through his features. He was barely restraining his whole body from trembling. "His heart could… his heart could stop, I need this _now_."

"I am taking her there, it will be faster," Luffy offered, all seriousness now. He had that somber look he only pulled when things got bad for his team.

Chopper nodded and Nami let her captain take a hold of her wrist and rush her out of the infirmary. Just then, Zoro realized that the rest of the crew was standing by the door in absolute silence, almost as if they didn't want to breathe too loud, watching Sanji with worried eyes.

A few seconds later they heard the telltale screech Nami would emit every time Luffy sent them both flying through the roofs of the city.

Chopper was back to ordering the doctors around, examining their medical supplies and choosing the few he thought could work before injecting them on Sanji. One of the doctors started stopping the bleeding and sewing Sanji's wounds after cleaning them.

The room started to sink into a frenzy as everyone ran around and poked Sanji everywhere for reasons Zoro didn't have enough medical knowledge to understand and, for a moment, everything was a mess. To be honest, Zoro didn't understand shit. The only thing he understood was that Sanji wasn't waking up and the beeps were becoming slower and more spaced out.

"Listen, they've got him under control, okay? You need to relax," his doctor insisted. As per usual, he didn't listen to her. She was doing an excellent job with healing him. She should be taking care of Sanji instead.

"Are you okay?"

Zoro flinched when Usopp's hand made its way towards his arm. He hadn't sensed him coming his way. Nor the rest of the crew. Except for Brook, who was standing by the door as discretely as he could so as not to freak out the doctors even more, the rest were near his bed, silently checking on him as they kept an eye on Sanji. Zoro looked at Usopp with blurry eyes, stress evident in his expression, which made Usopp frown.

"Chopper is taking care of him, he should be fine," he let out in an attempt to calm Zoro down. He swore the swordsman was about to start breaking things and that was the last thing they needed.

"I am _not _worried about him," Zoro found himself chewing out in a pissed-off growl. He was tired of people trying to reassure him, he could take care of himself. He knew Usopp wasn't at fault and he knew that the comment was rather childish and unnecessary, but he needed something to vent his terrible mood on and the poor soul happened to be Usopp. He'd have to apologize to him later… Maybe. "I know he'll be fine, he's just too lazy to-"

A longer beep than the rest suddenly took over the room and Zoro's heart halted. At that very moment, his whole world stopped with a violent clash. He looked towards Sanji unblinkingly, everything in his body rigid and hurting.

The beep wasn't stopping.

The machine to which Sanji was connected only showed a continuous line, there were no peaks anymore. Zoro's knuckles turned white as he grabbed onto his mattress, but he didn't register the pain, nor did he register the pressure of Usopp's hand around his arm almost cutting off his blood circulation.

_Everything _stopped and, suddenly, the only sound to be heard was the high-pitched continuous beep.

Chopper blinked down at Sanji, almost as if he wasn't processing what was going on. That until one of the previously useless doctors gasped and something inside him clicked, making him move and start yelling orders again.

"I need the fucking defibrillator!" he barked, and his voice was almost broken in panic. His huge hands made their way towards Sanji's chest as he started the CPR, but Zoro wasn't watching the way he violently kept pressing against it in between calculated breaks; his eye was fixed on the blonde's face.

Zoro blinked. What the fuck was Sanji doing? What the fuck was he playing at? This _had_ to be a joke. This wasn't happening, there was _no way_ this was happening. Sanji was supposed to wake up at any given moment, that's what Sanji did; he always surprised the hell out of everyone with his dramatic scenes, he _would _wake up.

Just that it was taking him too long to perform his movie-star scene. What the fuck was he doing, really? Was he planning on making them wait until Usopp had peed his pants?

Yet, the beep wasn't stopping at all, nor was Sanji opening his eyes.

Zoro's senses had drowned the sound of Chopper's voice, so he had no way of telling what the hell the reindeer was saying, nor did he care.

Why wasn't Sanji waking up?

He wanted to stand up, push through his doctor and get to Sanji, punch him in the face and yell at him to stop joking around. He wanted to stand up and beat the hell out of the damn cook so that the stupid machine would start beeping in rhythmic periods again. But his body didn't listen to what his mind wanted it to do. His body remained rooted in his bed, unmoving, his eye glued to Sanji's face in an unbelieving stare.

"What the fuck are you doing?" he heard himself whisper, though he may just have imagined saying it. His thoughts were too loud for him to tell them apart from what actually came out of his mouth.

His stomach did a flip and all of his limbs started feeling like they were frozen while his core ignited in the most uncomfortable way he had felt in a while, making him feel light-headed.

Come on, there was _no way_ Sanji was doing this to them!

_What_ the fuck did he think he was doing? Zoro swallowed the weird lump at the back of his throat only to have it replaced with blinding panic, and he swore he hadn't felt this scared in years.

"Oi, Sanji!" his body jumped from his bed in a flash, his voice tight and barely restrained. He felt his doctor try to hold him back, but he pushed her against the mattress and stomped towards Sanji.

"Hold him back."

Chopper's empty words hit him like a punch in the face, but they didn't stop him. Chopper was now aggressively using the defibrillator on Sanji, to no avail. What _did_ stop him were Franky's strong arms and Robin's horde of hands, which managed to immobilize him mid-track.

Zoro wanted to kill someone, but all fight left him faster than lightening as his body went weak and his knees gave in. He slumped in Franky's tight hold against his will, as all he could do anymore was blink in absolute disbelief at Sanji, who wasn't responding at all.

Where the fuck were Luffy and Nami? Why were they taking so long?

_Why wasn't Sanji waking up?_

At that point, Zoro didn't understand anything anymore. He only felt cold take over his body, and he lost all sense of time or awareness. His eye was glued to Sanji's pallid face; he didn't even let himself blink. The thought came to his mind that Sanji looked weirdly peaceful, almost as if he was really sleeping.

All along, the beep didn't stop.

**TBC**

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**A/N:** Okay, first of all: to everyone who has reviewed Chapter 31, thank you SO much! A lot of you agreed on the fact that it had been a bit tedious and you were worried that it might offend me, I'll let you know it didn't **at all**. That's the kind of feedback I am looking for, both strong and weak points and I am _extremely_ grateful that a lot of you did such thorough and honest reviews: I am really grateful that you took the time to do that and I found myself agreeing with you and considering your reviews extremely helpful! On that note, thank you for being so respectful; you were honest but you were really respectful all along your lines, which makes me really happy and unable to feel offended at all. Seriously, thank you for taking the time to review and be honest and thorough like that, it did help and it helped me confirm what I was already feeling: the chapter got too long and too thorough because I was afraid of leading to a too-complex-to-understand chapter. With that, I want to thank the fact that you pushed through the chapter and still appreciated it for what it was, I know it was long to do.

Also, about this chapter: I am SO sorry, please don't kill me!


	33. Chapter 33 - Steady, Not Immediate

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**Chapter 33**

**Steady, Not Immediate**

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Something unnerving enough happened in his dreams for him to start stirring out of a deep and heavy slumber.

He decided that he was tired and that he wanted to keep on sleeping, but his will didn't have a chance against the strings of consciousness pulling at his brain first, then at his eyes, which slowly slid open. He felt them burn and sting and he confirmed what he had previously concluded: waking up was no fun.

Sanji groaned in annoyance, his voice coming out half broken because of the lack of use. He pretty much sounded like a dying whale, which didn't do his dignity the tinniest favor, but he could hardly process anything he did, much less the noises he emitted. Which annoyed him even more. What the hell, he had been peacefully sleeping and he would have been _totally_ fine with it if he had slept for three more days straight, but no, his brain had to go and switch on for the only apparent purpose of pissing him off.

The light bathing the ceiling he started to focus on was dim and warm, which wasn't all that bad. The bed was mushy too, which was inviting enough for him to go back to dreamland, which he agreed with himself was the best course of action to take.

"Oi, bro, are you awake?"

Sanji frowned. The best course of action to take had suddenly stopped being a possibility. He didn't recognize the voice as much as he recognized the telltale 'bro', and he decided that Franky's presence was not welcome at all. Much less his attempt of starting a conversation with him. No way in hell; he wanted to sleep! He thought that, maybe, if he completely shut his eyes and pretended to be unconscious the cyborg would leave him alone, and so he proceeded to do so.

"Oi, Sanji. Sanji, can you hear me?"

Sanji frowned harder. This wasn't going as planned.

"Let me sleep."

"Oh my God, this is _super_, you are awake!" Franky exclaimed with too high a dose of cheerfulness and celebration in his voice, in Sanji's opinion.

Sanji groaned and squinted his eyes, repeatedly signaling for Franky to shut up with a clumsy finger against his pressed lips, his face being an encyclopedia example of the word 'pain'. Franky was too loud.

And he was even louder when he started guffawing boisterously, almost as if Sanji's tortured expression was the funniest thing he had ever witnessed in his life. Sanji grimaced and tried to shush the cyborg to no avail, so he ended up pressing his hands against his ears and showing Franky his back, hoping to get the message through.

"You look like shit, bro," Franky helpfully pointed out, clearly ignoring Sanji's misery.

Sanji took the time to throw him a deadpan glare and settled for huffing and trying to sit up a bit since Franky didn't seem intent on shutting the fuck up, which Sanji would've very much appreciated; but his nakamas were generally shitty (except for the ladies) and apparently hated him enough to enjoy his suffering.

The moment he tried to lift his body, his arms gave in and he flopped back to the mattress with a surprised blink as he realized that he seemed to have no strength at all. Not only that, his mind was cloudy, which pissed him off even more. In his confusion, he also noticed that he was connected to a small machine which definitely looked like Chopper's through needles and small tubes full of weird liquids he didn't want to know the composition of.

"Easy," Franky suggested. "You've been sedated for five days, your organism must be pretty fucked up with all the drugs Chopper has been administrating you."

Sanji scowled. Sedated? For five days?

"What the fuck."

He sent Franky a questioning glare, but it wavered a bit when he heard some kind of shuffling behind the blue-haired man. He angled his neck so that he could see who else was in the room, reasonably awake by now, but the cyborg was too big and wide for him to see anything behind his enormous body structure, which was currently hovering over him.

"I am going to tell Chopper that you are awake; he'll want to check on you," Franky announced as he stood up, getting back Sanji's attention. Now he was giving him an amused look that the blonde didn't like one bit. "By the way, get ready for World War. I genuinely think he wants to murder you."

Franky let out a chuckle and left the room, leaving Sanji with a deep scowl painted in his face and a hateful sense of dread for what was about to come filling his stomach; that being Satan's underling in the form of a furry innocent-my-ass reindeer and, probably, a lot of yelling.

As soon as Franky had left him alone, Sanji heard more shuffling and his head turned back to where he had been trying to locate the third person in the room only to find Zoro laying on his side on a bed near his, with his arms crossed and an obvious glare pointed at him.

"You woke me up," Zoro growled with clear annoyance, which made Sanji feel pissed off for a whole new list of reasons; Zoro as a human being being the top one.

"Fuck off."

They remained in silence for a while as Sanji went back to laying on his back and glaring at the ceiling, but he could definitely feel Zoro's angry stare stuck on his profile, which both bugged him a bit and made him try to ignore the swordsman with everything he had.

That until curiosity took the best of him.

"Five days?"

It wasn't too much of a wide question, but Zoro took it for what it was.

"Your heart stopped. Do you remember anything at all?"

The statement didn't come as much as a shock as it probably should have, it merely sunk in and Sanji found himself accepting it quite fast, just that he was slightly surprised that it had happened at all. Sanji finally looked back at him and sent him a thoughtful look, then shook his head a bit.

"We won. After that it's a bit blurry."

"Okay, let me clear it up a bit for you. First things first, I'll inform you that you are an idiot," Zoro stated matter-of-factly, the beginning of an angry growl sticking out in his voice.

"Good morning to you too."

"It's not morning, it's passed midnight," Zoro corrected. He was looking at Sanji with something the blonde couldn't quite decipher. It was mainly an out-of-place anger that Zoro was barely restraining, but there was something else behind that glare, just that Sanji couldn't quite name it, and it made him feel uncomfortable and confused straight away. "You fucking overdosed. I _told you_ it would hurt you, but you just had to go and ingest an arsenal of those damn pills in the middle of the fight!"

Why the fuck was Zoro lecturing him and how the hell did he know? Sanji needed a break, did nobody around him have any chill left or the will to spare him at all?

"Mind your own business."

"Well, it _was_ my damn business if you keep in mind the tiny fact that we were fighting as a fucking team and your reckless actions affected _my _outcome as well," Zoro viciously growled.

"Calm down, for fuck's sake, I just woke up! Why the hell are you so riled up anyway?" Sanji cut him with an exasperated gesture. "We won the damn fight, so _chill_!"

Zoro breathed through his nostrils and seemed to deflate a bit, but he didn't leave Sanji with a more than two-second break as he was clearly getting more agitated by the second.

"Why did you do it?" he inquired, his tone tightly and only barely restrained. Sanji could've sworn Zoro's voice was trembling, but he couldn't really tell for sure since he was too busy wondering what the hell was going on. "Even _you_ must've known that was retarded."

Sanji scowled at him. Hard. "_Because_ we needed to win and I was about to collapse. For someone who's this obsessed with winning the damn contest you sure as hell are complaining about the wrong shit!"

Zoro bared his teeth to Sanji, then settled for clenching his jaw and inhaling deep and slowly again. That's not what he had meant to say at all, but it's not like he could just go and blurt out what he actually wanted to tell Sanji, much less when an inner turmoil he had no control over had taken over him the moment the blonde had opened his eyes. He needed to calm down. By the time he looked back at Sanji, the blonde seemed a bit more relaxed as well, but his judging glare was still in place. He was clearly _not _appreciating Zoro's outburst first thing after he woke up.

"_You_ told me I was the fighter with higher chances when it came to defeating Allen and you were busy enough with Aila, it's not like I was going to let myself be useless in a situation like that," Sanji muttered, his tone a bit more controlled and clearly pointed.

Zoro sighed. That's exactly what he had been fearing when he had revealed their trump card (their trump card being Sanji) to the blonde: Sanji was impulsive as fuck and he took things too seriously for his own good. If he perceived himself as necessary to do something, he'd push himself to inhuman limits to achieve it if it meant his team was better off with that, and that's exactly what he had done, just that he had almost fucking died in the process, mind him. Zoro was pissed off beyond believe, but he was also feeling guilty and now he had to combine both of these feelings with the overwhelming relief that kept flooding him as the fact that Sanji had woken up settled in. He couldn't quite decide if the sudden rage inside him was propelling him to hug their cook or punch him in the face. Maybe both, but he sure as hell wasn't going to give in to the first impulse. What the hell was wrong with him?

"It was still stupid," he whispered, suddenly tired. He had also been waken up and he was also sleepy despite the scene he had just pulled, and he didn't feel like arguing all that much. Especially not when he found his eye busy checking Sanji from head to toe every few words, almost unable to believe that the blonde was looking back at him and barking his usual loads of bullshit as if his heart had never stopped, as if he hadn't almost made Zoro's stop as well when that had happened.

"So. Five days," Sanji resumed, bringing him back to the present.

"Chopper managed to relive you, I honestly don't know what he did because you had been out cold for more time than anyone with any possibility of surviving would've lasted, but the thing is that he managed to restart your heart and you should be thanking him with your damn life because, hadn't he been there, you would've died and the doctors would've never known what had hit you," the more Zoro ranted about what had happened, the worse his mood kept getting and the bitterer his tone. "Those_ incompetent _bastards."

Why did Zoro sound so angry? He looked like he was about to explode at any given moment.

"I bet Chopper is not exactly pleased," Sanji commented with a pronounced grimace, pointedly ignoring the way Zoro's temper seemed to be riding a roller-coaster.

"He wants to assassinate you," the swordsman informed him. "He has been drugging you so as to keep you resting for as long as possible since he didn't trust you to do so out of your own will. If he had a choice he would've kept you sedated for the rest of your life so that you didn't do anything retarded ever again, but it looks like you're stubborn enough as to break through his sedatives anyway," Zoro kept babbling. Which was _nothing_ like him, but Sanji decided that the greenhead's weird behavior was due to the lack of sleep and, well, his usual inability to get his only two lonely brain cells to cooperate with each other, therefore he didn't think much of it. Or at least he forced himself not to. "So, no, he won't be exactly pleased. You are in his black list."

"I love good news," Sanji groaned, scrunching his nose in displeasure. He sure as hell was going to have a hard time sharing any space with the damn reindeer in the days to come. He suddenly wished he had become deaf; he would've escaped Chopper's yells and lectures and he would've saved himself a perpetual migraine.

"You brought it upon yourself. Do shit, get shit."

Sanji frowned at Zoro, mildly taken aback by the harshness of his tone, by how _biting_ he sounded. That didn't feel like one of their usual bickering sessions at all.

"Aren't you the king of positivity and encouragement today?" he spat with a piercing groan. "Spare me, will you? I get you're fucking dreading that I am alive and kicking and ready to beat your ass again, but save your sour mood for when I am in a condition to deal with your shit."

Sanji huffed and turned his back to Zoro, leaving the other to stare at the nape of his neck with somewhat of a confused look. Damn. That's not how he had intended this to go. Just as his eye got lost in Sanji's blonde strands Zoro understood he had overdone it. Again.

The swordsman shut his eyes tightly and restrained a groan which he knew Sanji would question and give him shit about, so he just muffled it with a deep exhale.

Why couldn't he control himself around the blonde? All these days, while he had been forced to stay in his room and behave under the threat of being tied down on his mattress and end up just as sedated as Sanji, worry had kept creeping on him every time he laid his eye on the cook. Which was pretty much every minute he spent being awake.

A permanent tinge of guilt had made itself at home in his chest, and he found his thoughts constantly revolving around the scary question of whether Sanji would wake up or not. _Given_ it was hard as fuck for the blonde to fight the barriers of sedatives Chopper had caged him with, but Zoro had no way to know if his permanently closed eyes were due to Chopper's unmerciful treatment or the fact that Sanji's brain had decided to shut down on him. Chopper had warned them of that possibility being an actual thing given the amount of time Sanji's heart had stopped working; and that potential outcome had left Zoro with little sleep and tons of anxiety he couldn't quite control anymore, to his dismay. He was usually calm and collected, but this time he had almost given himself a stroke over it. Maybe it was the guilt that was fueling him to feel like shit. Or maybe it was the way Sanji's usually expressive and lively face had been blank and void of _anything_ for so long that everything inside him had started to crumble a bit at the sight. It was almost like sharing a room with a broken puppet, and Zoro had suffered every minute of it.

Or maybe he was just being stupid.

See? It always got out of hand with Sanji. And Zoro hated that unusual side of him with everything he had. It only made him feel weak and, sometimes, insecure, which he had never really let himself feel before.

Sanji seemed to find his new pose uncomfortable because at some point he stirred a bit and made it to lay on his back again, but the motion got interrupted by a tight cramp by his lower back that almost prevented him from moving at all. Sanji scrunched his nose in discomfort, held his breath and willed himself to move slower until he managed to get his body to respond. It didn't necessarily hurt -it would've been highly worrying if it had, given the amount of shit Chopper had injected on him already-, but he could still feel the strain that told him his back had seen better days. Same went for the rest of his body, as he now could confirm: he was wrapped in bandages pretty much everywhere he looked at. Sanji sighed a bit and let himself lay down and relax, telling himself it would get better and forcing himself to believe it, even if his spirits were rather down right now. Maybe it was because of the sedatives.

Zoro watched all of his movements, a deep frown bathing his features by the second. The pang of guilt came back full force as he just saw Sanji endure it without complaining one bit. Which he never did, to be fair, but Zoro was passed the time where Sanji's shows of braveness and self-restraint ignited nothing besides a good dose of respect in him. Now it just hit him like a punch in the face. Words left him before he could think twice.

"I am sorry."

Sanji blinked at the ceiling, momentarily wondering if he had heard right. When he felt a tense silence coming from Zoro's bed, he came to the unnerving conclusion that yes, he had heard right indeed, just that his brain didn't believe his ears. He slowly turned his head to look at Zoro with both a confused and a concerned look, not really understanding what the swordsman was on about.

He found Zoro looking at him with a softer version of his usual scowl, one that only managed to portray guilt, worry and an unveiled apology, and Sanji decided that he didn't like that expression on Zoro. Not one bit. He felt his stomach churn violently as Zoro slightly gulped and made the effort to justify himself.

"If I had reached Aila before they had started displaying their strategy at the very beginning it wouldn't have gone this bad, I… I kept telling you Aila was mine, yet I didn't manage to get her away from you, I should've-"

"Hey, hey, _hey_, Zoro, stop," Sanji cut him, his tone tense and final. It was a warning.

Come on, Zoro wasn't supposed to be doing this; there was nothing to apologize for in the first place but, even if there had been, this was too much. This was overstepping boundaries they had set for themselves way back in time. No shows of concern, no unnecessary apologies, no shows of fucking _caring_, and if Zoro's overall behavior wasn't all of that and more, Sanji didn't know what it was. It was so out of place that it made him feel sick in the stomach, and he didn't want to have to deal with this, _no way_. Basically because he had no idea of how to deal with that side of the swordsman at all.

Now he understood what Zoro's overall shitty attitude came from, and he found himself dreading it: he wasn't as angry with Sanji as much as he was with himself. He had been blaming himself for what Sanji had ended up being pushed to do, therefore his snapping and almost uncontrolled rants. Sanji realized that he didn't want to hear any of it anymore.

Zoro looked at him with something weird hiding behind his pupil, but Sanji decided that he didn't want to know what it was nor what it meant either. It was fucking scary and just _not_ the way it should be between them. It had his stomach flipping and a slight feeling of anxiety tugging at his chest, and Sanji was too sleepy and confused for this right now.

Zoro felt himself deflate. He _knew _he shouldn't be doing this, he knew it was a big 'no' in their relationship, and he knew he risked fucking things up, which Sanji's slightly freaked-out expression and overly-tense and wary pose confirmed, but Zoro had wanted to let it out for his own sanity's gain. It shouldn't have come as much of a surprise that Sanji viciously rejected what Zoro was implying; Zoro would've done the same had he been in Sanji's place, but… Zoro felt a twist in his chest and realized that anxiety hadn't gone away at all, maybe it had even worsened at the sight of Sanji's cutting reaction.

Zoro bit his lip. He needed to get this out, for fuck's sake, else he wouldn't be able to sleep! He needed to try again and he needed to sound firmer, it was just an apology, it shouldn't change anything, normal people apologize when they feel the need to, don't they?

"Look, Sanji, I-"

There went his name again. Sanji hated it when Zoro used that card, he honestly did.

"_Stop_."

Sanji was now staring at him with a pissed-off expression that only managed to half-conceal how tense and uncomfortable he was feeling. An expression that clearly reminded Zoro that he was stepping out of his lane by miles.

"I don't want to hear it. It was _our_ fight, not yours, so stop assuming you needed to-"

A loud bang interrupted Sanji and froze Zoro in place as if he had been caught red handed. What for he didn't really know.

"_You fucking overdosed, you bastard!"_

Surprise got words stuck in Sanji's throat for long enough as to not see Chopper's punch coming his face's way until it hit him. It wasn't that strong of a punch, in all honesty (Chopper didn't mess with his patients _that_ much), but it still meant a hoof getting embedded in his cheek, which was not too far from deserving the adjective 'painful'.

"Shit, Chopper!" Sanji finally spat out as he coughed a bit and nursed his face with his hand.

"I don't want to hear your complaints! You didn't have any qualms filling your body with shit knowing it would hurt you, so don't you dare complain about a hit!" Chopper barked back, standing on Sanji's mattress and letting hell break loose on him as he did his best to restrain an actual kick or punch that could hurt the blonde.

Sanji kept himself from reminding Chopper that it was _his_ shit he had ingested. He didn't want to die young and he knew, through experience, that shutting up made the tantrum go away way faster.

His attention was already taken away from Zoro, which meant the knot in his stomach was partially gone. The little freak-out session at Zoro's totally out-of-character behavior had switched into the legit fear of losing his life in Chopper's hooves. In the state he was in, Sanji feared Chopper would 'accidentally' increase the sedatives' doses and end him as revenge for whatever Chopper considered Sanji had committed as a personal offence towards him.

Zoro's attention, on the other hand, was far from away from Sanji.

He wanted to punch something. He had made a fool of himself and it was his own fault for overstepping limits he _knew_ he shouldn't be crossing. Sanji had warned him a million times by now, but Zoro always came up with something even stupider than before.

It's not that the gesture of apologizing was wrong or problematic in itself; they did apologize when it was _really _needed and they both acknowledged the importance of it in key moments. What had been out of place was the tone Zoro had been using, the way he had implied Sanji's problems were his and that he felt responsible for him. He knew it scratched the untouchable respect-based pillars of their relationship and yet, for a moment, he hadn't given a fuck. He knew it had given away the fact that Zoro cared about Sanji _quite a lot_, and he knew that showing something like this was taboo between them, _especially_ after the turn their relationship had taken lately, yet he had let it out in a selfish attempt to feel better.

Before, something like this would've simply made them feel embarrassed as fuck and maybe want the Earth to swallow them into a place where the memory no longer replayed in their heads; now it made them feel uncomfortable and weirdly vulnerable, and neither of them could handle feeling vulnerable _at all_. Why Zoro would put himself in that position was certainly a case of study, but it was no wonder that Sanji had almost slapped Zoro out of it: that's not how things were supposed to go, period.

"Chopper, you need to tone it down a bit, bro, you're going to end up hurting our cook," Franky commented by the door frame as he watched Chopper start to choke Sanji with the collar of his pajama.

Zoro looked at him in slight confusion, suddenly realizing that the cyborg had come into the room right after Chopper. He blinked and groaned, promptly feeling the need to be elsewhere. The place was too crowded, Chopper was screaming a lot, Franky was just bound to place his attention on Zoro and start asking uncomfortable questions, and Sanji was in the bed across his trying his best to ignore the way Zoro had embarrassed himself just now; so, yes, he needed a way out.

Franky looked at him with slight surprise when Zoro dragged himself out of bed with his lips tightly shut, and he followed him with his gaze until the swordsman locked himself in the bathroom.

"Everything alright there, bro?" he asked in a loud enough tone as for Zoro to hear from behind the closed door.

"Toilet," was Zoro's curt and muffled answer.

Franky frowned a bit but ended up shrugging it off the moment he heard Sanji start yelling back at Chopper. The blonde's patience had apparently reached its limit and evaporated and the duo was in urgent need to be separated, so Franky proceeded to just do that.

Sanji indignantly yelled against the huge hand plastering itself against his mouth (and thus his whole face) and pushing his head back on the pillow; and Chopper started kicking around as soon as Franky got him by the back of his neck and lifted him up and away from Sanji the way someone would lift a kitten, which directly offended his dignity.

"Okay, enough, you two. Chopper, you do your job; Sanji, you shut up."

At some point they both seemed to realize the idiocy of the whole scene, so they stopped struggling and Franky liberated Chopper in probation period, which the cyborg deemed successfully passed as soon as the reindeer started to actually do his job with his mouth sealed. He only uncovered Sanji's face when he realized both that the blonde had no further intention of yelling like a madman anymore and that he was having serious trouble breathing due to all of his air ducts being blocked by Franky's oversized hand.

"Sorry about that, bro," he muttered with an obvious sorry-not-sorry expression tinting his features as Sanji fought to get his breath back in choked coughs while glaring hard at him.

Sanji swore his nakama had associated to greet him with the worst awakening ever.

Chopper's inspection went on without further incidents and Franky sat there and watched without real interest what was going on. No one seemed to be in the mood to talk, so Franky occupied his brain with a new project he had lately been designing, which was way more interesting than Chopper's passive-aggressive glares towards Sanji and Sanji's attempts to pretend he didn't notice in order not to jump at the reindeer and provoke him further.

* * *

Zoro stared at his reflection in the mirror with a deep judging scowl.

_Keep your cool, bastard_, he thought to himself. He needed to chill and he needed to do that soon; Sanji had all the right to freak out, Zoro wasn't acting like himself and it had to stop.

He was a collected, calm, heartless man who had gone through hell and more without batting an eyelash; over the years he had managed to dominate his fears and just rarely let worry creep inside him, and it had to continue like this. It made no sense that Sanji, as a human being, could change that and, even if he could, Zoro shouldn't let him.

Come on, he had lived with the blonde for years now and nothing like this had ever happened, so what the hell was going on?

Okay, if he was honest with himself, that last statement wasn't exactly accurate; he could count Sanji in most of the moments in which he had ever lost it a bit and had had worry hit him in the face. That was a fact that Zoro wasn't too happy to acknowledge, yet it was a thing.

What had _never_ been a thing until some weeks ago was Zoro not being able to properly deal with it and control it; it had never guided his behavior before. Just that, for more than a month now, it did. Zoro would be lying if he denied the fact that most of the latest twists in his relationship with Sanji had happened due to Zoro's own fail to control himself around the blonde. It had changed quite fast, but it had definitely changed, and Zoro didn't like it one bit. What had led to this? It had started back in the Rock, he was absolutely positive about that, but he could tell that there were already hints of it here and there along the past years.

If he _really_ thought about it, it was stupid, really. Worrying like a madman about Sanji was plain irrational and useless; the blonde was one of the strongest fighters Zoro had ever met and he could hold his ground just fine without anyone's help.

Yet here Zoro was.

Sure he had beaten around the bush and had been pretty ambiguous about it, but he had basically just apologized for not protecting Sanji. _What the fuck_. It was nothing like Zoro to do something like that, neither was him scolding Sanji for being reckless normal (not when he did the exact same every time he fought). His body had needed to get it out, that was undeniable, and he still had that tinge of guilt painting his insides, but his brain knew this was _ridiculous_. Sure, Sanji had been about to die for real this time, and that may have shaken Zoro more than he ever thought it could, but Sanji was fine now and the gesture of apologizing had done nothing but put him on the line and confirm, to both him and the blonde, that there was something weird going on with Zoro.

Zoro couldn't have that.

Enough out-of-place outbursts, enough showing what Sanji's condition did to him. He could take care of what was actually going on with his mind in the privacy of his head. He didn't want anyone else picking up on it, and he knew for a fact that some of his crew mates, let alone Sanji, had already noticed by now. He was just lucky enough that Sanji had decided to stop him in his tracks every time Zoro did or said something stupid and had had the decency to pretend that nothing happened afterwards. But enough was enough.

Zoro washed his face with cold water in order to clear his mind and sighed, letting the water drops fall from his face on their own as he kept his head low and his eyes closed, his hands supporting him against the edges of the sink.

Sanji's yells from the other side of the door filled his ears and something warm came flooding in his chest.

"He is fine," he found himself muttering in an almost inaudible tone, almost as if he needed a verbal reminder of the statement for him to correctly process it and accept it. He had spent so long worrying about Sanji that he had almost forgotten that the blonde could also bring good news and a certain peace of mind with him.

Zoro felt himself relax noticeably and he sighed again, this time with a certain level of content.

Zoro considered the fact that he mostly got dragged out of his lane by mysterious punishing forces he hadn't yet found the name of when Sanji was doing something stupid or potentially worry-worthy so, if the blonde was all right now, it would mean Zoro would find less triggers to lose his self-control and turn into a Sanji-obsessed idiot who could barely hold his tongue or his actions, much less his knight-like fits every time he felt the idiotic urge to protect someone who didn't need protection at all. That was good. If Sanji was fine, Zoro would be fine as well- _wait_. Since when did Zoro's sanity and peace of mind depend on Sanji's wellbeing? No, no, _no,_ wait, this wasn't the conclusion Zoro was supposed to reach! Had he just established a dependence link between what Sanji did and what Zoro felt? No, no, no, and, again, _no_. This was fucked up and totally _not _what Zoro had been expecting to graze in his musings! He had to deal with himself and make whatever had gotten into him go away _by himself_, he shouldn't make it depend on the blonde's actions, that was just going back to the root of the problem…

No. That wasn't fair on Sanji either.

At that point Zoro was aware that Sanji wasn't the problem but rather the reason for whatever was happening to him. No, Zoro was painfully aware of the fact that_ he_ was the problem.

He couldn't really drag Sanji into this by blaming shit on him, it was Zoro's own issue, no matter what part the cook played in it. A bit of common sense told him that the recent physical turn their relationship had taken wasn't the smartest way to prevent that (especially if he took into account that it was his own problematic lack of self-control around the blonde what had pushed things that way), that maybe he should just forget it and move on as if nothing happened, but he waved it away after a while, telling himself that he could take care of that later: it's not like they had agreed to fuck every single night, there was the very real chance that nothing would happen ever again between them if none of them felt like pushing it in that direction anymore, so he decided not to worry _that_ much about that. And, even if it happened again, sexual encounters could work perfectly on their own; once they had come to terms with the fact that they both may want them to happen in the future for stress-relieving reasons, there were no further bad consequences he could foresee.

He told himself that his new-found physical attraction for Sanji was the smallest of his problems; first it was his mind and over-caring he had to tackle and end. _That_ was what could have catastrophic consequences. If this little (not that little anymore) obsession managed to fuck up his behavior and make it turn against himself (as he had already experienced when losing concentration or making stupid mistakes while fighting), then it could turn dangerous. He couldn't let it escalate further.

He deeply cared about his crew and, if he was to lose his cool, they would be the reason for it, no doubt, but he had forbidden himself to get attached enough to any of them in a way that would cloud his judgement and his actions. Don't misunderstand, he would kill and _die_ for each one of them, but there was a difference between caring for someone enough as to give your life for them and letting their very action and problem cause you physical and psychological stress. He hadn't let it get to that point with _anyone_ ever after Kuina had died, and he wasn't about to start now, much less with Sanji, who neither needed that level of concern placed on him or wanted it for that matter. Zoro knew what attachment did to him, he knew how he had been left completely broken after Kuina left him and he knew how it _still _affected him nowadays, which he couldn't change, but he wasn't intending on letting it happen again. He knew attachment was a weakness. And he had enough scars already.

He may have been overthinking the consequences too much, but he knew what his behavior entailed and he knew that it couldn't end much better than what he had pictured, so he convinced himself of the fact that he had to get rid of that and start acting like nothing was wrong with him while he was working on it. He needed a bit of self-control, else Sanji would freak out for real and kick him in the ass and Zoro was a bit tired of the whole tense-and-about-to-explode interactions with the blonde. Just when they had come to a peaceful and more than convenient agreement about where their relationship laid, he wasn't going to turn it into a cold war again.

Zoro nodded at his reflection and signed a deal with himself, deciding that he'd start working on it about right now. He had been bugged by his own whole change of attitude for long now and he hadn't done anything but reprimand himself, which was clearly not enough and definitely not his style, so it was about time he took some action and forced certain bans on himself.

His thoughts raced at the same pace Chopper's argument with Sanji escalated, making everything a bit more confusing, yet his resolution only grew stronger. By the time his nakama's yelling died down, his decision had settled in as final. It was stupid to waste any more time thinking about what was wrong, he just had to stop it, it couldn't possibly be that difficult.

He sat down on the cold tiles and concentrated on listening to Chopper fumbling around in the next room, more than likely taking care of Sanji and most definitely sedating him again. He was slightly surprised that Sanji didn't complain anymore, but he guessed the blonde was dead tired by now.

Since he'd rather avoid being the collateral object of Chopper's bad mood, he waited in silence in the peaceful space that was the bathroom of their fancy hotel room. He told himself that he could use a bit of alone time to help himself relax now that he could actually do so since he didn't have the weight of not knowing if Sanji would wake up or not on his shoulders anymore. It was surprising, at the very least, how Sanji could manage to ignite fire inside him at the very same time he managed to extinguish long-lasting anguish flames with the mere fact of finally having 'come back' to the world of the living. He guessed it was a Sanji thing to do. No wonder he had him all confused and lost.

* * *

"Where did Zoro go?"

Sanji looked back at Chopper for the first time in minutes, his frown fading a bit. Franky answered for him.

"Bathroom."

They both saw the slight roll in Franky's eyes when speaking, and Sanji came to the conclusion that Zoro had probably announced so when he had disappeared, just that him and Chopper were too busy yelling bloody hell at each other to notice. Zoro was smart, Sanji had to give him that, he had known when to flee in order to avoid himself some yelling which would've surely come his way already had he been there.

"He better not be taking off the bandages," Chopper masked in annoyance. He was quite clearly done with his crew and their propensity to get hurt and/or not listen to him when he gave them medical advice.

"I don't think he will," Franky reassured him. "I'm pretty sure he learnt the lesson a few days ago."

Sanji scowled, an alarming feeling settling inside him. "What happened a few days ago?"

"Nothing you will experience _unless_ you dare disobey me or execute my orders free style again," Chopper barked back, and Sanji shut his mouth for good, dread taking over him. He knew how scary Chopper could be like when he got like this and he didn't want to experience it, no thanks. Chopper on a bad day was no joke, by no means, and Sanji had actively worked on making his days hell, so he'd rather keep it low for now.

"Have you fought with him?"

Franky's question came as a surprise, as Sanji hadn't really been expecting it, much less in front of Chopper, and he had to process it twice before realizing that it was directed to him.

"With who?" he tried to play dumb.

"Zoro. He looked quite upset when we got here, have you already managed to piss him off?"

There was an amused underlying tone in Franky's question, but Sanji could tell he wasn't mocking him as much as he was trying to get somewhere, just that Sanji didn't really know what was behind the otherwise innocuous words. Maybe it was the knowing stare Franky was sending him, almost as if he knew something Sanji didn't. Sanji felt like he had been receiving this kind of look a lot from his nakama in the past weeks.

"Seriously, what did you do?"

"Nothing!" Sanji defended, suddenly annoyed.

There was no way Franky knew how Zoro had been reacting to Sanji waking up, right? He hadn't been there. Sanji didn't know why the idea of someone else seeing Zoro act like he had bugged him so much; he didn't know what made him want to hide it, almost as if Zoro, and even Sanji, had done something wrong (which they hadn't), but truth is Sanji didn't like it one bit. It was almost a bit too personal, a bit too (undesirably) intimate for anyone else to have the right to witness it. Sanji himself didn't want to see any more displays of whatever had gotten into Zoro that had made him apologize almost as if he had hurt Sanji himself, much less did he want anyone else to see the swordsman in such an awkward and vulnerable-looking state.

Maybe that's what had ticked him off so much about the whole scene: how unusually vulnerable Zoro had looked and how stupidly vulnerable he had made him feel with that soft and bothered look of his.

Sanji mentally slapped himself to bring himself out of his musings. It was obvious that Franky hadn't seen or heard anything and, even if he had, there was nothing weird about an apology, no matter how Sanji had reacted, so what was he worrying about? Franky was just asking. It didn't take a genius to know that, when being put in the same room, him and Zoro exploded quite easily, there wasn't a need for Zoro to act weird for them to fight, and it was pretty readable in their faces.

"He just snapped at me first thing after I woke up," he continued ranting, almost as if to help himself get rid of the uncomfortable feeling inside him. "He complained about how I had woken him up and started scolding me for no good reason, don't look at me as if I had started it!"

Franky smirked a bit. Was that the beginning of a pout he was seeing in Sanji's face? He swore those kids were, like, mentally five if so.

"I didn't say you started it, I just asked if you fought."

"Of course they have fought!" Chopper intervened with an exasperated huff. "That's the only way they know how to express that they have been worried about each other."

"What the fuck," Sanji snapped.

Now Chopper was wearing both a knowing and an evil-wannabe expression. Chopper wasn't taunting him as much as he was stating a fact he was absolutely positive of, but he was sure as hell using it to embarrass Sanji and get a bit of his revenge back. The fact that Franky started chuckling from his seat didn't help Sanji's dignity at all.

"That's a lie, I wasn't worried about that bastard!" Sanji countered with an embarrassed scowl that tried too hard to look menacing. "Nor was he worried about me. He sure as hell looked pissed off when I woke up, that shitty piece of moss. Doesn't give me a break even after my heart stops," he kept mumbling, his scowl deeper as he talked.

Franky's smirk turned into a small smile that both made Sanji shut up and switched on all of his alarms, his stance suddenly wary, which Chopper corrected by slapping his shoulder in order to force him to stop being tense and let him do his job.

"What," Sanji suspiciously inquired.

Franky's smile grew wider, but his stare went softer, which wasn't a good sign. Why was he feeling like he had been caught red handed?

"He's been worried about you, though."

Sanji blinked and ended up rolling his eyes, letting his head fall back onto the pillow as he decided he was completely _done_ with his crew. Except for the ladies of course.

"Give me a break."

"I'm not trying to mock you, bro," Franky insisted, but his tone was calm, almost as if he didn't really feel the need to insist. "I get Zoro has a bit of a difficult personality, but give him some credit. I don't know what he's been arguing about with you; but if you know him, and you do, you'll know he _does_ care. We all care. This hasn't been the greatest greeting you could've gotten and I know we all have weird ways to show how happy we are that you are alive and kicking but, believe me, we are. Zoro too. Even our little buddy over here," he added, pointing at a scowling Chopper, who didn't lift his gaze to look at Sanji.

Sanji frowned harder. Of course he knew. But, as easy as it was to recognize and admit that Chopper, who had also been giving him shit since he had woken up, was angry with him because he cared and was probably doing happy flips in the privacy of his head while keeping a pissed-off front; it was hard to admit that Zoro was the exact same. Zoro wasn't meant to care _and_ show it, even through a passive-aggressive attitude. Just that the swordsman had done exactly that.

"Whatever," he huffed.

He didn't really understand where Franky was going with this. If he wanted to let him know that he was happy, that all of them were happy that he was alive, there were shorter ways to say it. He didn't get why Franky had felt the need to emphasize the fact that Zoro, in particular, cared. If it wasn't for mocking reasons, Sanji didn't know what Franky's point was.

For a moment, he contemplated asking him, but the thought came to his mind that maybe that's exactly what Franky wanted, that maybe the cyborg wanted him to ask so that he could properly answer. And so he kept the question locked inside, for precaution. He wasn't all that sure that he wanted to give Franky a free pass to tell him stuff he may not want to know.

Franky took his silence for what it was and stopped bugging him, letting Chopper work in peace. When the doctor was done, he gave Sanji a set of orders he expected him to follow like he followed Luffy's commands and left the room without voicing out loud how happy he was that Sanji was finally back with them. Not that Sanji needed him to, he understood Chopper's sour mood and tantrum as what it was: a show of care.

Funny that he didn't let himself assume the same for Zoro. Funny how it somehow felt vertiginous to admit, almost scary. Funny how he was rather apprehensive of accepting Zoro caring for him as a fact. It was stupid, really, but he guessed that's how they had always worked.

"Sanji."

Franky's voice got him out of his inner uncomfortableness and brought him back to an even more present one. He had apparently thought wrong when he had assumed Franky would stop bothering him just because he didn't give him the hint to continue.

"What."

"He does care," the cyborg repeated with his tone hushed.

Sanji rolled his eyes again, harder this time, and glared at him.

"Why the hell do you care if he does?" the blonde snapped back in what almost sounded like an angry whisper.

He suddenly felt all sketchy talking about this, almost as if they were sharing a forbidden secret. What the fuck. Since when had his relationship with Zoro become a drama and why was he so bothered about the fact that someone else was pointing out that Zoro actually cared? Maybe it was the fact that someone who wasn't himself was saying it out loud. Maybe it was the fact that he no longer could associate it with his own perception of reality, which he could always try and deem false. He could always hush himself or keep Zoro from talking or doing bullshit that didn't suit him, but if someone else pointed it out, it felt more real, less refutable.

Franky raised both hands in the air with an innocent expression that Sanji felt the urge to wipe out of his face.

"I'm just saying."

"Well, then, stop saying."

"Why does it bother you so much?"

Sanji looked at him in disbelief. Was Franky really digging this much? That wasn't like the cyborg. Sanji knew that Franky knew a lot more about what usually went on than other people, but he was one to play it dumb and keep it to himself. Where was Franky trying to get? He didn't explicitly meddle in anyone's business unless there was a good reason for it.

"Where are you getting at?" he muttered.

"Nothing, really," Franky shrugged, almost as if he wasn't managing to fry all of Sanji's living brain cells with his claims and questions. "Just wanted to tell you that you may want to have some patience with Zoro. He got scared to death when your heart… well, when your heart stopped, and he may act weird around you for a while, so just cope with him a bit, okay?"

Sanji blinked at him, all suspicion turned into confusion. That wasn't exactly where he was expecting Franky to go. Scared to death? Those were pretty big words, and Sanji couldn't really picture Zoro fitting in with them. Also, have some patience? What did Franky know?

"That's it?"

That wasn't it, there must be something else… that or Franky had enjoyed beating around the bush to make Sanji feel especially uncomfortable, which was another equally valid possibility. The bastard.

"I knew there'd be some tension with everyone when you woke up, I'm just playing the peace-maker role here. Nami and Usopp will probably yell at you as well when they see you. Just… expect it and don't make a huge deal out of it, we all love you a lot, bro."

Sanji scrunched his nose a bit as Franky's 'bro to bro' rant went on. He didn't really appreciate such cringe-worthy confessions, much less in the confusing context he had set them in.

"I'm just making sure you are aware of it since most of us don't know how to act like normal people do when expressing it. Whatever we yell at you and no matter how much we scold you, we are glad you are back," Franky grinned at him. "_All_ of us."

It was too wide a grin for Sanji, who was starting to feel the effects of the sedatives on him and would've rather stayed in comfortable silence, but Franky's words ended up making him smile. Whatever he had initially thought Franky had been implying with that conversation, he had probably interpreted it wrong, and the thought made him relax. Franky was just playing his older brother role, no further meaning behind his words… or so Sanji convinced himself of. He could live with that. He was probably just too much on edge and over-thought and over-reacted to everything; he blamed it on the sedatives and on the fact that he had just woken up after five days and a heart attack.

Yes, he needed to chill and stop trying to read between the lines. It would only give him a headache.

Sanji smiled back at Franky and felt his body heavier.

"I'm glad I am back as well."

* * *

At some point, while half dozing off, he heard the front door being shut and his senses awakened again, concluding that Chopper had probably left the room already.

Zoro forced his mind to be active and sighed a bit when he realized that it was about time that he came back to his bed, which meant confronting Sanji, but his decision was taken and he wasn't all that bad at building masks, so he let a few minutes go by, just in case, then stood up and left the bathroom with a firm stance, interrupting Sanji's small talk with Franky as nonchalantly as he could.

"Is he gone already?"

Sanji glared at him but nodded and then felt silent, all conversation gone, which clearly gave away how uncomfortable he felt around Zoro after what had happened minutes before. Which only made Zoro's will to end his damn issues stronger.

"You sure as hell are loud," he groaned, feigning annoyance as he threw himself on his bed with a huff.

"You sure as hell left fast," Sanji counterattacked.

"I didn't exactly fancy being an indiscriminate victim of Chopper's wrath."

"I sure as hell don't fancy witnessing another argument, so what about you both chill a tad?" Franky interrupted with a half-assed frown.

Sanji rolled his eyes and Zoro huffed, but their banter had already broken the icy atmosphere a bit, bringing them some much needed familiar ground. Zoro felt satisfied with himself because of that, while Sanji eyed him suspiciously. Right after showing a side of him that Sanji would've much rather not witnessed, he now acted as if nothing had happened. It was good, to be honest; Sanji preferred asshole and I-don't-give-a-fuck Zoro than the over-protective and _caring_ version of the swordsman (which he definitely thought wasn't meant to be directed at Sanji, by no means), but it just hit him as weird how fast Zoro could go from one extreme to another as if he hadn't shocked the shit out of Sanji with his out-of-character behavior a few minutes before.

Sanji gave Zoro a side look for a second before sighing and settling for following Zoro's game. If the swordsman had managed to gather himself together and was making the effort to normalize the situation, the least Sanji could do was to humor him. _Stop reading between the lines_, he reminded himseld.

Moreover, Zoro acting like his usual self once again made Sanji's own reaction at Zoro's unexpected apology seem a bit extreme, so he told himself that he had probably overreacted and forced his brain to push the scene aside. Something in the small gesture had _definitely_ alarmed him at the moment, but now that it had gone away it seemed like not _that_ much of an issue, even with Franky's words ringing inside his head.

"What about the twins? Are they okay?"

Zoro looked back at Sanji with a judging frown. He knew that he was more worried about Aila's state than he would ever be for Allen's, but the fact that Sanji was concerned about people who had tried and had managed to hurt him ticked Zoro off a bit. Yet, the swordsman forced himself to keep it in for the sake of the promise he had made to himself a few minutes ago.

"Last think I know they are stable. They'll be fine," he answered with as much nonchalance as possible.

"Allen was about to pass away, but he managed to survive. Chopper offered the doctors some help and managed to stabilize him," added Franky.

"Aila is progressively getting better," the swordsman punctuated, knowing that that piece of information was the one Sanji probably cared the most about. God knows that a woman getting hurt under Sanji's watch is a sin he couldn't tolerate; the least comfort he could get was knowing that she was going to be okay.

Sanji nodded, feeling a bit more relaxed. Not only because of the news, but also because Zoro seemed to definitely act like himself once again, no extra and out-of-place bitterness in his tone. Sanji sighed. He was definitely too much on edge and taking things too seriously for his own good.

"What about the rest of the crew?" he wanted to know.

Zoro rolled his eyes in annoyance and Franky smirked and shrugged.

"Partying."

Sanji stared blankly at them but ended up shrugging as well.

"Figures."

"There should've been a celebratory party for your victory, but the organizers postponed it until you could both attend since it would be rather stupid to celebrate your win without the victors present," Franky elaborated further.

"Then what party are they attending?"

"There's been a few every night so far. The games you attended are apparently one of the top events in Terevera and they are usually followed by days of celebration and parties all around. Guess if there's people getting rich with the bets they'll want to spend the money like kings. Our crew has been invited to every single party ever since you won."

Sanji huffed. "Funny how neither Zoro nor I have attended any yet."

"It's not like you can," Franky rebutted, rather amused.

"Well, _I_ can," Zoro barked in annoyance. "Just that Chopper won't let me because he's also making me pay for the cook's stupidity."

"What was that, Marimo?"

"Okay, okay, let's stop it here, you two. Don't get started already."

"_He_ started."

Zoro was about to retort with an angry growl when Sanji suddenly changed topics again, frustrating the hell out of Zoro's bickering impulses, which he had to restrain.

"Why aren't we in a hospital, though? This is the same room we stayed in before the games."

Franky nodded at that, almost as if he had been waiting for the question. "Chopper wanted to keep you both under his own control, he's not too happy with the doctors here in Terevera, as you know."

"Of course not," Zoro grumbled from his bed. One could've sworn the mere topic of Terevera's doctors being brought up caused him allergic hives.

"He asked for the organizers to offer you two a room and equipment so that he could tend to you personally, and they complied. You are the victors after all."

Sanji rolled his eyes a bit at that, but settled for not commenting on it since he didn't really have anything to say.

"How long will we stay here?" he asked after a while, as he began feeling his eyelids growing heavy.

"The Sunny has started being repaired now that we have the money, but it will still take a while. Thank you for that, by the way. We wouldn't have been able to fix anything at all hadn't it been for the prize you won."

"No problem," Sanji was quick to dismiss. Not surprisingly so, he didn't feel actual pride on winning the competition, not with the way things had played out. "How long, though?"

"One or two weeks, maybe. We'll see. The shipwright guild is helping me out right now, so it will be a bit faster. Those bros are cool, man! They have a few interesting techniques I hadn't yet contemplated, I may learn a lot in the process!" Franky enthusiastically explained, which made Sanji smile.

"That's good!"

And it was, really. Whatever extra knowledge Franky could gather would bring the whole crew a step ahead in the game. It was always a reason for happiness when one of them managed to discover new stuff they could add to their area of expertise, plus they were all enthusiastic enough about it as to make their own personal celebrations contagious.

"The rest of us are also sleeping in this hotel, we are sharing rooms," Franky continued exposing him. "So that we can repair the ship, you know."

"Fair enough. What does Nami think of it?"

"She's cool with it, I mean, now we _do_ have the money to afford spending a few weeks here and the log pose indicates that it would take about as much time for us to keep going, so it's all good."

"You should also mention that she's getting the chance to ruin every single person in Terevera every night now that the twins are out of the game," Zoro added with a slight smirk, which Sanji ended up mirroring. If the secondary subject wasn't yourself being a debtor of the redhead, her obsession with money was almost funny to comment on. "I think we are now the richest we have ever been. Yesterday she was even nice to me, she might even want to live here forever. We could take the chance now that we can and leave her behind," he plottingly suggested.

Sanji's smirk was wiped out of his face as soon as it had appeared. "Watch your mouth, you ass."

"What if I don't, shit cook?" Zoro barked back, the familiar flare of competitive urges coming back at him.

"Luffy also won a tournament," Franky quickly cut them. He didn't particularly enjoy being a babysitter.

Sanji's attention was stolen again and Zoro frowned a bit. Bickering with the cook was slightly reassuring, in the sense that it made it seem like Zoro hadn't fucked up with his previous behavior, that even when Zoro had clear issues he had to take care of, they could keep their relationship ordinarily afloat like any other day.

"When?" Sanji asked with a curious tilt of his head. The movement came in slow motion, his brain slowly becoming uncooperative. Damn Chopper.

"Two days ago. He has signed up for another one tomorrow. He's all excited about it," Franky grinned as if he was talking about a three-year-old who was about to do his yearly school performance in front of his parents.

Sanji chuckled a bit, already picturing Luffy's hyperactive state. He wondered who had been feeding him for the past five days; the poor soul would've had to deal with Luffy's extra doses of energy and that was a hell to go through for any chef ever to step on Earth.

His mind started to feel a bit blurry and he let out a small sigh, knowing what was coming up in the next few minutes. He glared at the tubes connected to him, wishing he had the strength to rip them off of his body so that he could properly function instead of going back to sleep. He sure as hell had wanted to go back to dreamland the moment he had woken up, but he was rather annoyed by the fact that it was being forced on him now. He didn't like the foggy feeling taking over him; it made him feel powerless.

He turned his head a bit when he registered movement by his side and saw Franky standing up. He had been saying something, but Sanji hadn't caught it, so the cyborg smiled at him and got closer, slapping his shoulder a bit to get his attention. How long had it been since the conversation had died?

"It's Robin's turn to check on you for a few hours. I'm on holidays now," he joked. "Gonna go get her."

Sanji blinked hard in order to reactivate his brain cells, already feeling the opposition gathering up in his mouth. "Don't bother her, I don't really need anyone to watch over me. Let her have her fun. You can go too, no worries."

He had sounded pretty coherent for how sleepy he was feeling.

"Yeah, well, if I don't tell her Chopper will have my head for breakfast and I'm not exactly up for that, so I'll go get her. Come on, don't frown at me, I don't make the rules."

"Fuck the rules," Sanji countered with a bratty scowl.

"Get some rest, bro, you need it. See you tomorrow," Franky smirked at him, patting his cheek with half a dose of affection and half a dose of mockery. Which made Sanji scowl harder as he watched him leave the room.

Next thing he noticed was Zoro calmly staring at him, almost as if he was in a trance.

"What?" he inquired.

Zoro let out half a smirk and shrugged. "Chopper has gone pretty hard on you," he amusedly commented, alluding the fact that Sanji could barely keep his eyes open.

Sanji sent him back a shrug. "It's damn annoying, though."

Zoro chuckled a bit and settled for staring at Sanji again, which kind of bugged the blonde. Zoro looked calm and rather peaceful, but he knew his brain was working on something. For how chill the stare was, it was damn low-key intense.

"What?" he asked again.

Zoro raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth, then doubt crossed his features, he closed it and slightly shook his head, dismissing Sanji's curiosity and wariness before going back to giving him a calculated calm stare. Sanji sent him a questioning look, but that didn't get a reaction out of Zoro either.

Whatever he was thinking about, he wouldn't bring himself to let Sanji know. Sanji innerly sighed as Franky's words came back at him. Those same words started grazing at bits of his memories, and he was suddenly back in the Sunny, back to when Nami had been hurt. He had felt the need to apologize and Nami hadn't wanted him to, she had almost slapped him out of his rant. He didn't have anything to apologize for, she had told him.

It felt a bit like déjà vu. Just that now he was in Nami's place and Zoro was in his.

Zoro was now controlled, probably because of Sanji's previous reaction; but a few minutes ago he had looked a bit desperate.

Now that he thought of it, Sanji could relate to the look Zoro had given him, the one that had unsettled him to a fundamental level. His instinctive reaction had been to cut it away, but, if he thought back to it, Sanji had probably looked and sounded similar to Zoro when he had crawled back to Nami to apologize for… for not protecting her. Which was pretty much what Zoro had just tried to do. Sanji blinked. He remembered how much he had needed to get it out, how painful it had felt until he had managed to say the words he had meant to say since Nami had gotten hurt, and he suddenly felt like shit for automatically forbidding Zoro to let it out.

Whatever reason had made him freak out, no matter how much he had felt it was just _wrong _and not meant to happen between them, Sanji didn't really have the right to keep Zoro from freeing himself of the guilt he was probably feeling. There was absolutely no guilt he should feel, but Sanji had been there and he knew how much it hurt if he kept it in.

Sanji wanted to slap himself. Why did he have to be like this? Why couldn't he just accept a fucking apology?

He suddenly understood the true meaning behind Franky's words.

Sanji had been out cold for days, which meant he didn't really know how Zoro had reacted to his heart stopping and to his brain half hibernating, but Franky had. And if Zoro's attitude when he had woken up was anything to go by, he had probably felt and looked like shit all along. It was hard to believe, especially coming from Zoro towards Sanji, but everything pointed to the fact that guilt was eating Zoro away. Sanji knew what putting the blame on oneself did to people. He didn't get _why_ Zoro would feel responsible for Sanji, he really didn't, and he even perceived it as a bit of an insult and lack of trust, but, above all, he knew _how_ it felt, and Zoro had probably gone through hell by keeping it in, therefore the unusual scene he had carelessly displayed minutes before.

That's what Franky had been trying to tell him. If Franky had seen what Sanji was just now realizing, he must've known how Zoro would act when Sanji opened his eyes. And he knew what Sanji was like just as well. He had been trying to tell him to _deal with it_ and let it pass. He had been trying to let him know that, whatever Zoro acted like or even told him, Sanji should be enough of a grown ass adult as to accept it without making a drama out of it, without turning it into an offense, because it wasn't meant to be that, and it only made it harder on Zoro.

Sanji sighed. It wasn't a matter of pride or 'ought to's, it was a matter of being understanding.

He was an idiot.

"Hey," he muttered, although he didn't really need to get Zoro's attention, because it was already on him.

Zoro raised an eyebrow to show him that he was listening and Sanji sighed again, which made Zoro frown, suddenly adopting a defensive pose as all the alarms inside him switched on.

"Okay, wait, about before-" he started rambling.

"It wasn't your fault, really."

They both fell into a heavy silence, Zoro blinking a bit in confusion and Sanji dreading every second of the conversation they were having. But he had been enough of an asshole already and he owed Zoro at least that, so he kept his stance firm, even through the drowsiness.

Zoro frowned, taken aback by how strikingly soft Sanji's tone had come out. Zoro had been pondering if he should pretend that the apology scene had never happened or if he should address it and dismiss it, but had settled for the first. He hadn't been planning on repeating himself or contemplating it any further, even with guilt still screaming at him to properly let it out, not after his decision had been taken.

Now Sanji was bringing it up, but under a whole new light. The blonde didn't look all defensive and freaked out. He looked rather calm and… and _accepting_. It suddenly hit Zoro that Sanji wasn't planning on starting a fight with him, nor was he planning to question Zoro's behavior or build a long-ass conversation out of the last statement. No: Sanji was merely accepting his apology. Not directly, and definitely not making it easy for Zoro to have a clear chance at repeating himself, but Sanji was letting him know that he had _listened_ as opposed to automatically refusing the gesture. He was letting him know that it was _fine_.

Zoro felt a heavy breath leave his lungs, and he slowly felt a bit lighter. He didn't know why he had a knot in his stomach, but he decided that it didn't matter. He only knew that, weirdly enough, he felt grateful. Grateful and relieved. Not only because Sanji was fine, but also because he had listened and he had let him know that things were good between them despite Zoro's behavior. He had let him know that he _understood_ him, even if he didn't agree with Zoro's point of view. That alone made Zoro's breathing more fluid, helping guilt fade away bit by bit. It was liberating, really. With that last statement, Sanji had helped Zoro get his apology through without him having to say anything else, and now Zoro felt much better than he had in the last few days, even with the whole confusion issue dominating him.

Sanji watched with half-lidded eyes how Zoro quirked a small smile. Not his usual smirk nor his challenging grin, but an actual smile. It almost felt warm.

Zoro knew he had vowed to start controlling himself and stop showing that soft side of him he both hated and was afraid of, but he couldn't help himself, he really couldn't, not when he felt the _huge_ urge to hug Sanji and was already restraining it after considering that he might have gone a bit crazy after all. He _had_ to keep that in, but he figured he could let words flow free once more, at least.

"I'm glad you're fine. I really am."

Sanji didn't look as surprised as he felt at such a high dose of honesty. He specially didn't look like his chest had knotted for a second at Zoro's unexpected words, which it had, and quite violently so. Instead, he scrunched his nose as much as his numb face could manage to in a disgusted expression that made Zoro freak out for a moment, not really being able to tell if Sanji was being his usual shitty-self or if Zoro had overstepped out of his lane again. Please don't let it be the last one…

"Don't do that again, jeez, I think I'm developing an allergy."

Nervousness faded away for annoyance to kick in, but Zoro found himself suddenly laughing despite himself, relief washing in. Sanji was joking. He wasn't cutting him again nor was he acting as if Zoro had just done something forbidden; he was merely being _Sanji_, and there was something extremely comforting about that. Something that made his chest churn, which he decidedly ignored.

"Do what?" he heard himself taunt. "I didn't do anything, you must be hallucinating."

Sanji rolled his eyes and went back to closing them, sleep pulling him in quite violently now. He still managed an annoyed growl. "I better be, else I'm kicking your ass tomorrow for being a sap."

Zoro laughed but he doubted Sanji heard that as his last words had already been slurred and almost not understandable. He stayed on his side, looking at Sanji's profile with a half lost stare.

Despite how immensely relieved he felt right now, he was surprised at how Sanji had changed his attitude from one minute to the other. He wondered what Franky had told to the blonde, and he instantly dreaded it, all the chill he had gathered leaving him like a flood.

During his shifts checking on Sanji, Franky had _seen_ Zoro feeling and being restless as fuck; he had seen Zoro often standing up to check if Sanji still breathed; he had seen Zoro disobey Chopper's orders to stay still in order to throw sheets over Sanji's body when he shivered or lower them when the blonde was sweating since nobody else seemed to pay attention to those little things. Franky had held him as he had broken down the moment Sanji's heart had stopped, followed by Zoro's reality. He had seen how vulnerable Zoro had felt and acted right until the moment Sanji had woken up.

Had he told Sanji any of those things in order to make him more accepting, more compassionate? Had he even had the time, with Chopper in the room and Zoro coming back in in such a short period of time? Zoro suddenly felt restless. He hadn't given a fuck before, while his mind was clouded by Sanji's uncertain state, but now he realized that Franky, and probably most of his crew, had witnessed how lost he had been, and that was scary, especially if it ended up being put in Sanji's knowledge. He didn't want to know how the blonde would react. He was trying to fix things with himself so that his fragile relationship with Sanji wouldn't sink into the depths of nothingness and that bit of information could jeopardize that.

Zoro scowled a bit, ordering himself to stop assuming shit. No, Franky hadn't told Sanji everything there was to tell; it wasn't the cyborg's style to meddle in other people's business _this_ blatantly, plus Sanji would've already fled the room if it had come to his knowledge that Zoro had made it a thing to 'tuck him in' at night. And Zoro would've already jumped off a cliff out of sheer embarrassment.

So, no, Sanji didn't know everything there was to know, but Franky had definitely told him _something_, else he couldn't quite explain the abrupt change of attitude in such a short period of time. He had also pulled shit on Zoro right before the games, dragging him into a fatherly chat about his and Sanji's relationship that had almost sounded like a damn scolding, so it's not like Franky wouldn't dare do something of the kind with Sanji. His suspicions were only confirmed by the fact that Franky had gone to get Robin and left them alone, when the normal procedure established by Chopper was that the one on watch would always wait until the next one came so that Sanji would never be unwatched. Why the reindeer didn't deem Zoro as enough at least during the shift-change was a wonder and it made Zoro feel slightly insulted, but he had given up on fighting that. Yet, here they were, more than likely _deliberately_ alone.

What was Franky doing, really?

He had enough trouble dealing with himself, he didn't really need his crew mates meddling in this, much less getting Sanji involved in Zoro's own issues, even if he was a big part of them.

He had to acknowledge the fact that, whatever Franky had said, he had managed to bring peace between them after Zoro had gone and let his impulses mess things up first thing after Sanji had woken up, but things working out once didn't mean external interventions would always save his sorry ass, especially not when he was trying to conceal whatever the fuck was going on inside him and his crewmates seemed intent on somehow laying it bare for him to properly contemplate. Which is _exactly_ what Franky had managed to do by leaving them alone, knowingly or not. Now Zoro's mind was back into overthinking after having promised he wouldn't, and he had already managed to blurt some embarrassing shit to Sanji in less than five minutes. Thank God the blonde was asleep now so that Zoro couldn't come up with any more caries-worthy material. Where had his resolution gone and how long was his self-restraint planning on making a show of its absence?

Zoro groaned at his own helplessness and decided that it was about time he shut his brain down. At least for a while.

Zoro counted until ten and let a breath of air come out in between his lips as he forced himself to relax. Sanji waking up after so long had undoubtedly messed up with his emotions as too many of them had gathered together at once without him being able to process any of them properly. It was understandable, but that was it. He was an adult and he was going to deal with it as one. He told himself that all the urges and feelings he was now being driven crazy by would fade away in one or two days, after everything had calmed down again. He was making a fuss out of some rebellious emotions, for a valid reason, but it was probably not as extreme of a case as he was thinking it was. It's just that he had foreseen the worst consequences his behavior would entail so that it was easier to erase. It was good, he'd rather be safe than sorry when it came to something like a potential and undesirable attachment to someone, but there was no need to be a drama queen either. He didn't need immediate results (the faster the better, though), what he needed the most was to be steady and final; that's what his training as a swordsman had taught him along the years.

It was a worrying situation he had to end, but he also knew that he could hardly beat his obsession by obsessing over how obsessed he was; that would only be counterproductive. So, yes, _keep counting and chill, just keep in mind the promise you made to yourself; this doesn't need to be a drama_, he told himself.

Satisfied for the first time that day with where his thoughts had ended up, Zoro willed himself to relax so that he could get some sleep. Five minutes after he had closed his eyes, he opened his good one again, lazily fixing it on Sanji. He knew he was fine, he knew he was just sleeping and he definitely knew that he didn't need to check on him, but he guessed it had become a bit of a habit over the past few days. Sanji's chest rose and fell steadily, indicating that everything was going as it probably should, yet Zoro frowned a bit. Sanji's sleeping face reminded him all too much of the one he had been forced to see ever since the blonde's heart stopped, not knowing if he'd wake up or not, and the remainder of the familiar anxiety that would arise whenever he doubted Sanji's fate tickled his insides a bit.

_He is fine_, he reminded himself.

Sanji half snored once, then twice, which he hadn't been doing up until now, and Zoro's restlessness receeded for good.

_Steady, not immediate_, his brain repeated for him.

* * *

The mansion the party was being held in was barely three minutes away from the hotel the Strawhats were staying in, which made it pretty convenient. Franky speed-walked to the main hall with a small smile in his face, making use of his height to locate his nakama, which he found gathering all together near the bar.

As he strolled over there, getting a drink on his way because he was finally out of duty and ready to party, he saw Chopper being tightly held by Luffy, who wore an amused grin on his face. When he got to their spot, he discovered that Chopper was crying like a baby while hugging the hell out of their captain, who kept him in his arms as he gave him comforting pats on the shoulder.

"He is fine, he is fine-_he is fine_!" their doctor was wailing in a high-pitched and broken tone. "He is such an idiot but he is fine~!" he kept babbling. Franky was surprised he was even making out clear words out of his mouth.

Luffy spotted him and gave him a knowing grin, barely restraining a snicker, and Franky grinned back, raising a knowing eyebrow. Luffy titled his body a bit so that Franky could get a glimpse of Chopper, who he now noticed was both sobbing and laughing, not deciding for a single course of action and instead exploiting both against Luffy's now snotty red shirt. Their captain didn't seem bothered by it at all, he just kept patting Chopper's head and shoulders while clearly laughing at the little reindeer, for which Chopper didn't have enough time to scold him or show any indignation at all.

"Is he asleep?" Luffy asked as soon as Franky could hear him over the blasting music.

Franky nodded, assuming the blonde would already be in dreamland. Chopper's ears perked at Luffy's question, as he tried to locate who he was talking to only to find Franky grinning down at him.

"What the fuck are you doing here?!" the reindeer screeched, suddenly overcoming his emotional breakdown as his doctor's duties kicked in. His gaze landed on Robin, who was silently watching them from a stool with a not so discrete smile. "Did you leave him alone?!"

"He is with Zoro," Franky defended.

"Zoro doesn't count!" Chopper yelled as he tried to rip himself from Luffy's now mocking embrace. "You left early, Robin is still h- _Robin_, go watch him now!"

Robin raised an eyebrow and was about to answer as an amused glint passed by her eyes, but Franky was faster.

"She can't, though," he exclaimed as he slid to her side and shoved his own drink in her hands. "She has to finish her drink, she's paid for it! Let her finish it and she'll go," he assured him.

"That's not her dr-"

"Hey, Chopper, you have snot coming out of your nose!" Luffy cut in as he was thrown into a fit of stupid laughter. Next thing Chopper knew, Luffy was poking at the substance stuck on the tip of his nose, apparently finding it the most hilarious thing he had ever seen, laughing tears streaming down his face as he wrapped his rubber arms tighter around Chopper so that he'd have his hands free to start clapping at the same rhythm the offending guffaws left his throat.

"What _the fuck_ are you doiiiiinggg!" Chopper screeched in dismay, trying to get out of his lethal hug to no avail.

Both Nami and Usopp pulled extremely disgusted faces at how gross that scene was, and next time Luffy decided to poke at Chopper's snot, Nami decided to punch him in the face so that he'd stop behaving like a three-year-old kid. Not that he let go of Chopper though, Luffy seemed rather unaffected by Chopper's obnoxious screaming while he complained to Nami that she was too harsh.

Nami was ignoring him by now, though, as she walked towards Franky followed by a still disgusted Usopp and an overly-amused Brook.

"Is he okay?" she asked, her tone genuinely caring. She looked happy, more than Zoro would've ever given her credit for.

"I think he'll be fine. He's just drugged up, but definitely functioning and already bickering," Franky informed with a smile.

Nami beamed at him, and so did the others, then she turned to a desperate Chopper still being half asphyxiated in Luffy's hold. "Can't we go see him?"

"_No_! Absolutely not!" Chopper angrily yelled at them.

He had already forbidden them to go visit Sanji the moment Franky had come down with the news that the blonde was awake. Needless to say that the hall had been shocked by a collective hysterical yell and a Strawhats' stampede heading towards the front doors only for Chopper to change into his human form and stop them all with violent kicks and punches that had almost granted them the expulsion out of that party. Just that they were the victors' crew, so their antiques were under a higher level of tolerance than those of the rest of mortals in that room, so they had stayed. The crew had insisted and pleaded for Chopper to let them go and see Sanji, quickly forgetting about the party, the money, the food and the bets, but Chopper had informed them that no one was going to disturb the blonde until he could check his state.

Now that he had they were trying again, but Chopper remained firm in his position, even with how reduced his authority had become after Luffy had managed to smear snot all over his face, which made the others laugh at his serious glare as he gave them orders not to move an inch from there. But they knew Chopper, and they definitely knew that he was just trying to do what was best for his patient, so they ended up agreeing. No seeing Sanji until Chopper told them they could; unless they were lucky enough for Sanji to be awake during one of their watches.

"He's asleep, anyways," Franky charitably helped Chopper. He swore the reindeer would end up having a stroke.

"Why the fuck is Robin still here?!" Chopper screeched again as soon as he had managed to dominate the little rebellion. Luffy was still clinging to him while singing something about snot, which they were all grateful that the party's music was covering up. "Go check on him!"

"I'm almost done, doctor, no worries," Robin soothed him as she held Franky's former drink in the air in order to show him that the alcohol was half gone already.

"He'll be fine," Franky promised by her side with an absolutely calm tone. He had already ordered another drink for himself and he was about to finish it, which gave away how slow Robin was drinking.

Which only made Chopper screech higher and more hysterically as he cursed each one of them for being idiots and not following his orders. That until Usopp crouched in front of the caged reindeer with a smile and told Chopper that he shouldn't worry at all since he was a great doctor, which meant Sanji would indeed be fine with or without watch. Then the screeching turned into angry yelling as he let them know that he wasn't grateful at all and that they wouldn't buy him with petty compliments, followed by a never-ending streak of insults and curses towards all of them.

Franky sighed and rolled his eyes with an amused smirk starting to appear under his nose. Robin watched him for a while before sipping on her drink again. They were alone now since the others were too busy trying to calm Chopper down and Nami had fled in order to empty someone else's pockets with a happy and relieved smile tinting her features.

"Is it me or are you going out of your way to leave them with some alone time?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Franky looked back at her and shrugged. "Aren't we all doing that? I doubt Luffy _really_ enjoys playing with Chopper's snot, no matter how much of a brat he-" his answer got cut as he frowningly observed how Luffy was now inserting his finger up in Chopper's nostril in order to check how far he could go, Chopper screaming bloody hell at him. "Or does he?"

Robin openly laughed at that, quietly turning it into a chuckle that suited her best. Their captain was a case of study indeed.

They fell into a relaxed silence after that, amusedly watching the scene unfold in front of them. That until Robin spoke again, just that her tone was now serious, which got Franky's attention.

"What did you tell them?"

"Nothing, why?"

Robin fixed her gaze on Franky, and he knew she was evaluating him, her glass slowly rotating in her hand.

"Have you talked to Sanji?"

"Well, yes-"

"Have you told him about Zoro?"

Franky raised both eyebrows at her. He ended up huffing and raising his hands in the air, empty cup in between his fingers. "I only nudged him a bit. I think Sanji was freaking out at whatever Zoro did when he woke up, so I told him he should have patience with Zoro and that he _had_ been worried about him. I think it's only fair that he knows. We have _all _been losing sleep because of him."

Robin seemed to relax a bit with that, quickly nodding and going back to sip at her drink.

"Satisfied?"

"It's just that I don't think it's our place to tell him what Zoro has been through. Zoro is scared at his own behavior," she said. "He doesn't need any of us breaking anything to Sanji when he himself doesn't know how to deal with it."

Franky silently agreed with that; he was perfectly aware of where the limits of the crew's intervention in the others' issues laid.

"Nudging is absolutely fine and I do think they need it since they tend to handle things the wrong way, but the rest is Zoro's business. Moreover, it could only make things worse, whatever they have been going through."

Franky nodded again. "I think we can all agree on that."

Robin smiled at him and finished her drink. "Good job, then. They _do_ need a slight push."

Franky smiled back and ordered another drink for him, turning around to check if Robin wanted one as well. "Feeling like we have given them enough time or should you elongate your holydays?"

Robin chuckled at that, but shook her head. "Enough is enough, I don't want Chopper distressing over this."

Needless to say Chopper was way beyond distressed by now since Luffy had made it his goal to make him laugh no matter what and, basically, keep him trapped.

"Go easy on them, they have been nudged enough for today!" Franky yelled as she made her way out, to which she turned around and winked at him conspiratorially.

* * *

Zoro's frown had grown a new size as it now seemed to be imprinted in his face. So much for trying to sleep. What about the 'steady and final'? His eye was fixed on Sanji again, and it had been for the past few minutes as something bugged him like an itching would. He was truly making an effort to ignore it, enough so that a vein had popped in his neck in restraint, but his eye couldn't get passed the fact that Sanji's sheets had been left lowered to his hips and that the blonde had shivered four times by now. Almost imperceptibly, sure, but Zoro had seen it and now he couldn't keep his hands straight as he had them fisted against his chest, telling himself that _nope_, he wasn't going to do it because he had already promised himself that he'd get rid of those idiotic impulses, and he wasn't about to break the rule twenty minutes after having set it.

That until his pupil caught sight of another almost non-existent shudder. The vein in his neck was about to burst as he sealed his lips and ordered himself to stay the fuck still, but next thing he knew he was jumping out of bed with an angry and frustrated huff, padding over to Sanji's mattress while glaring at the blonde like it was his fault. His hands ceased curling in order to grab the ends of the sheets, and all his aggressiveness seemed to disappear from his limbs, gathering in his scowl, as he softly pulled the fabric over Sanji's body, making sure it covered him up to his chin. He found himself tugging at the sides to guarantee that everything but Sanji's face was properly covered and warm, and then it hit him that this was disgustingly _domestic_ and sappy and just downright idiotic, so he let go as if his hands had caught fire, glowering at Sanji, who remained soundly asleep like a baby.

What about the _enough is enough_, Zoro?

Zoro wanted to slap his own hands, suddenly angry at himself and at how obviously he had just ignored his own self-restraint rules for Sanji's sake again. Not that Sanji had asked, of course, and it's not like he would've died hadn't Zoro tucked him in but, damn the blonde.

Zoro sighed, standing by Sanji's bed with one hand against his hip and the other massaging the bridge of his nose in order to gather some patience and the will to _not_ start banging his head against a wall, which now sounded pretty inviting.

_Steady, not immediate_, he kept repeating in his head like a mantra. It was okay, he had 'just' tucked Sanji in, it wasn't a capital sin nor something that directly brought him any harm asides from a huge dose of embarrassment, and he had already been doing it a few times these days, just that he hadn't been thinking before, and now he found himself analyzing every movement he made. Plus, Sanji would never know it, so it was all good.

It would have been bad if Sanji or someone else had caught him doing it but that wasn't the case so he should just simmer down and-

"Are you alright?"

Zoro jumped a feet in the air, throwing himself back into his bed and almost slamming his head against the wall in the process as he noticed, with his heart stuck in his throat, that Robin was standing by the door frame, watching him with curiosity all over her face. Cold sweat broke all over his body as he started looking for believable excuses, but none came out of his mouth as he kept opening an shutting it like a fish while mentally screaming at himself for being an idiot. Had she seen it? She had just opened the door, right? Why the fuck was he feeling like Robin had caught him planning to kill someone?

Robin titled her head as if to question Zoro's _very questionable_ actions.

"I'm fine. Was just checking if he… if he breathed alright. Chopper told me to," he blatantly lied, his 'Earth swallow me' expression turning into an almost accusing one. Why was Robin always so sketchy? He could never tell when she was about to enter a room. That's why things like these happened.

Robin smiled. "Is he breathing alright, then?"

Zoro frowned. Why did it look like Robin was humoring him and having fun while doing it?

"Looks fine," he mumbled.

"Good, then. Shouldn't you sleep as well? It's pretty late and you are also recuperating from your injuries."

"I am fine," Zoro stubbornly replied as he did his best to calm down his heart rate. He didn't normally do 'nervous' but, when he did, it was a disaster and ended up looking more like 'freaked out _and_ having a stroke'.

Zoro wanted to punch himself in the face as much as he wanted to kick Robin away from there so that she wouldn't see Zoro's 'I have been caught' face which he couldn't quite erase. What had he even done, though? It's not like she could've seen anything else than him standing by Sanji's bed, that wasn't a crime! Neither was it tucking Sanji in like a damn grandma would, let's be real, but it somehow felt like something worse than that. Zoro frowned. It's not like Robin hadn't seen him doing similar stuff while Sanji was out cold, she totally had, but he hadn't been giving a damn back then, and he wouldn't get caught doing something like this ever again even if it costed him his life to prevent that. He had a dignity to nurse and he now had the awareness to do so.

Robin sat down on a chair and started reading a book she had already left in their room in order to distract herself on her watches, clearly ignoring Zoro and faking nothing had happened. Zoro scowled harder. No knowing smirks or stares? No creepy 'I know what you've been doing' aura?

He ended up groaning for the umpteenth time that day, Robin barely sparing him a glance when he did so. He needed to chill. He threw a look at the wall-clock, which only confirmed that it was about time to pass the fuck out and stop being a damn brat who had just hit his puberty. He kind of wish he could make use of the sedatives Chopper administered to Sanji in order to help himself fall asleep, but the reindeer wouldn't leave a single pill within their reach ever since Sanji had overdosed, so he'd have to do with counting sheeps.

Zoro sighed as he made it a point to give his back to Sanji before closing his eyes so that there'd be no annoying temptations prying them open.

Sanji had just woken up and Zoro already needed a break. An urgent one.

...

... damn the blonde.

**TBC**

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**A/N: **as always, thanks a lot for your reviews! You are all really kind and I find constructive criticism really useful, so thanks for that! You are all amazing!


	34. Chapter 34 - The Itch

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**Chapter 34**

**The Itch**

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Zoro was, not to anyone's surprise by now, in quite a bad mood.

He closed the door behind his steps with less aggressiveness than he had originally mustered when he had opened it, hitting him at the very last second that Sanji was sleeping and Chopper would kill him if his carelessness dared to interrupt his rest.

He was fast to forget Chopper's orders not to move too harshly, though, as he proceeded to stomp downstairs, jumping every two steps in order to save the time it would take to step on one at a time. Nami, who was on watch, had been pestering him long enough for him to decide it was time to flee and do it fast, else he'd throw a tantrum and risk waking up the annoying sleeping beauty he had for a roommate and, maybe, strangle the redhead in the process.

For the past few days, his life had been kind of a constant stressing challenge.

There was the fact that Chopper had kept him locked in that damn room longer than he could stand, to start with. It was only three days ago when the reindeer had decided that Zoro was free to go for a 'gentle' walk around the hotel gardens or pick his own food at the buffet restaurant they had downstairs as opposed to spending all day long in between the same four walls and having his food brought to him by his crewmates. He suspected it had been exactly them who had teamed up in order to force a bit of a break out of Chopper. He also suspected that the reason would be the fact that they must have been considerably fed up with Zoro's increasingly insufferable mood, which he had no one to pour onto except for them. Since they had to take turns to watch over Sanji, they also had to stand Zoro barking shit at them for no valid reason, so they had ended up begging for Chopper to let him leave the damn room thus leaving _them_ alone. Zoro couldn't really blame them. He actually thanked them dearly; he was about to go nuts.

Just that the gardens became boring within about the same time it took for Zoro to get lost, and he was about to go nuts _again_ because he needed out already, dammit.

There was also the fact that he had been kept locked in that damn room _with_ Sanji: which meant he had been spending almost all of his breathing hours around the blonde. Taking into account his current inner turmoil regarding the cook, the extra hours spent with him didn't help one bit.

It was decidedly better now that Sanji kept waking up every now and then, reassuring him of the fact that he wasn't a corpse (which had been a huge trigger to his obsession while Sanji had been permanently unconscious), but it also meant that he got to interact with him. And, even if he had already decided that straight avoiding him would only backfire (as it had done before), he also knew that his promise to get rid of his inner issues with the blonde could use some time away from him, which he wasn't being granted.

Sanji got to sleep longer and way more often than Zoro thanks to the sedatives Chopper still administered on him, but he was just as fed up with the situation as the swordsman was. They weren't ones to be kept locked up, much less still on a bed, which was Sanji's current predicament.

It was no wonder that they were both irritable enough as to turn every single conversation into an argument, which would've been fine if they had been able to fight it out, but they weren't allowed to, which meant they had to ultimately keep it in and bottle it up; things they weren't good at.

By now the tension was very much real and tangible and all of their interactions grazed the edge of exploding. Zoro would very much appreciate the possibility to punch Sanji in the face and turn it into one of their usual all-out fights which they both loved, the kind that got rid of tense situations within the blink of an eye, but it's not like he could do that, so he was pretty much screwed and doomed to a life of self-restraint.

The experience was testing his already limping self-control which he had vowed to regain, and Zoro wasn't happy about that. It wasn't only the lingering need of a fight at the end of each of their arguments playing with him, it was also the peaceful and seemingly irrelevant moments that kept putting him to test. Such as when Sanji was sleeping. Sometimes his breathing would be way more imperceptible than usual and worry would creep on him as Sanji's resting figure resembled the one he had been forced to live with while they still didn't know if the blonde would ever wake up again. Just that now there were way less tubes and medical stuff stuck to the blonde's body, not to mention the fact that Zoro _knew_ Sanji would indeed wake up in a few hours, maybe just a few minutes, because the cook was fine. Which meant his slightly anxious moments spread here and there along the day didn't have any solid reason to lay on.

He was doing better, though. Before Sanji had woken up, anxiety had taken over Zoro, turning him into someone he didn't recognize. Once the blonde had finally opened his eyes, he found himself feeling _way_ chiller and controlled. But that's only because, right before that, his situation had been quite extreme and _nothing_ like Zoro; anything was better than that.

It hadn't gone away, it was most definitely there in the way his brain would overthink shit in the silence of the night, in the way he'd find himself checking on Sanji without his consent, in the way he felt extra trapped in that room by the mere fact that Sanji was there with him, which wouldn't have worried him before as much as it would've simply pissed him off.

Or in the way he found himself staring at Sanji for no valid reason at all more often than not.

But he was doing better, he swore. Or he would've if their arguments and the fighting ban hadn't become a ticking bomb which they couldn't really _let_ explode. _That_ was building up and making it seem like his issues with Sanji were being thrown right at his face as he felt his scarce self-control sliding away from his hands.

That is also why he almost broke a rolling trail and nearly caused a concussion on a waiter as he aggressively stomped into the buffet restaurant located in the first floor of the hotel and collided into them, barely saving the silverware and the poor man's skull at the last second as he managed to keep the trail balanced and hold the waiter by his elbow while trying to keep his heart down his throat.

"Oh my God, sir, I-" the waiter babbled as he scrambled to his feet with an 'I-have-seen-Death-walk-by' expression making his face seem like he was about to have a stroke while he tried to compose himself. "I am _so_ sorr-"

"My fault, my fault," Zoro growled under his breath as he pushed the tray towards the waiter for him to hold and shut up.

Then he stomped, less aggressively this time, towards the buffet counters with a deep scowl and his nerves fried. He filled a plate worth of anything he had a craving for, knowing full well that he was throwing through the window the healthy diet Sanji had imposed on all of them, and sat down on an empty spot by the window, glaring outside as if the exterior he had been banned from stepping on was at fault of everything going wrong in his life.

It was fairly early in the morning, early enough as for the place to have just a few commensals and ooze peacefulness. Last night's parties around the city had died down just a few hours ago and it was safe to say that most of Terevera's citizens and visitors had attended at least one of them, as they'd do every single night as long as they could afford it, so most of them were still sleeping in: that was also the reason why the buffet was open all day long and breakfast options were extended until they mixed with lunch, knowing that most of their clients would show up passed noon. No need to mention how happy Luffy had been when he had known that, but even the wealthy hotel couldn't keep up with their captain's unreasonable needs, which always caused problems between the staff and the human vacuum that insisted in sucking every last crumble of food to be served on a daily basis, putting in danger the rest of the guests' feeding in the process.

Waking up early had its perks, though; Luffy was usually asleep by then, which meant Zoro wasn't the one in charge to clean up the mess after him while trying to avoid them being kicked out of the hotel. The rest of the crew didn't seem to have picked up on that or maybe they just didn't really care as long as they could sleep their hangovers away, and so they were the ones to go through all the trouble when they went for breakfast with their captain right when the restaurant was the most crowded which, put all together, turned into the most conflictive moment of the day. Zoro was usually back in his room by then, but that didn't mean he was much better off since that also meant he was back with Sanji.

Zoro sighed and stuffed his mouth. All in all, breakfast was his breather and probably his most precious private time lately, so he took his time to enjoy it, postponing going back to his room as much as he could while keeping in mind that he had to leave slightly before his problematic crew made their way downstairs, else Nami would order him to stay and fix the mess for them.

At some point he found his brain finally disconnecting and managing to keep Sanji out of the picture as he concentrated on hating life and the prohibition to leave the damn hotel with all of his might. By the time he raised his head, he noticed there was a pretty obvious gap between his table and the rest of the taken ones. It was pretty hard to ignore the fearful glances thrown his way; he must've been glaring pretty hard. Maybe they had picked up on the fact that Zoro wanted to murder something and had decided to stay out of harm's way. Clever choice.

Zoro finished his plate and stood up to fill another one, frowning at everyone he caught looking at him. The waiters hadn't even bothered to ask him if he needed help with anything, they had learned to keep their distance, and Zoro was fine with that. He wanted to be left alone.

When he sat back down he sighed again as he threw a longing gaze out of the window, feeling an itch in every cell of his body as restlessness took over him. He really needed out.

Just as his thoughts went back to a plan to sneak out of the damn hotel, a crash and a few yells gathered his attention. A boisterous laugh and loud apologies made him close his eyes tight and count until ten in order to keep himself from killing someone. What was his luck? Another crash and a few more yells had him slamming his hand against the table, standing up with a fierce scowl and a roar.

"_Luffy!_"

His captain sent him a confused look from where he was standing in between a mess of broken platters and lots of food scattered on the floor, half of it already stuffed in his mouth. The staff were surrounding him with desperate expressions, but they had stopped yelling at him as soon as Zoro had started.

"Zoro! What are you doing here? It's quite early!" Luffy blurted at the same time pieces of masked food fell from his mouth. Luffy wasn't one for manners.

"My very fucking line," Zoro growled as he made his way towards the mess.

What the hell was Luffy doing there? He always overslept. His gaze settled on one of the waiters as he forced himself to pull an apologetic look, which he sucked at but still needed to do if he didn't want the board of the hotel kicking them out since they were testing their patience on a regular basis in quite extreme ways.

"I'll keep him with me, sorry about that," Zoro masked in distaste. He wasn't one for apologies.

He took a hold of Luffy's ear and dragged him behind him, ignoring his complaints. It was all he could do to not strangle the raven haired kid.

"Okay, you sit down right here and don't move," Zoro ordered with a prominent stab in each of his words as he pushed Luffy on a chair in front of his, forcing him to sit down.

"But-"

"I don't want to hear it. I'll pick your food; you are forbidden to come anywhere near it, got that?"

"But-"

"_I swear_, Luffy, I'll tell curly-brow to fucking diminish your food portions once he gets back to cooking if you touch anything else," Zoro threatened.

Luffy looked offended as he had ever been. "But it's not fair!"

"Move an inch and I'll tell him to keep meat out of your meals."

Luffy clacked his mouth shut and glared hard at him, feeling beyond betrayed and outraged. Zoro didn't give a fuck. He had just wanted to have a quiet morning away from Sanji and now he was stuck dealing with Luffy's mess and playing babysitter because their captain had opportunely chosen that particular day to wake up early and start giving shit to the hotel staff.

He came back with several platters worth of all kinds of food in order to make sure that Luffy ingested enough as to whine less later, but not as much as to upset the restaurant's staff further. He swore one of these days they'd lose their patience and kick them out. Just as Zoro was one strand away from losing his.

"I stood still."

"Eat this and shut up. You are giving me a headache," Zoro groaned as he massaged his nose and went back to eating, his short-lived peace broken.

Luffy was surprisingly energetic that morning. He normally felt like shit the day after partying hard and, from what Nami had told him when she had started her watch over Sanji, last night hadn't exactly been chill for the Strawhats. Zoro internally whined. Not only was Luffy energetic, he was fucking talkative as well.

He was spurting the first things that came to his mind, which made no sense to Zoro, and he swore the conversation didn't even have a point to begin with. Zoro settled for looking at Luffy in annoyance and confusion and nod or shake his head every now and then, since he couldn't possibly have a decent comeback to half of the things Luffy said. At some point he just tuned him down, concentrating on his food and giving up on following Luffy's train of thought.

He had the suspicion that his captain hadn't yet gone to sleep. He had seen him like this a few times already, and it always happened after he had gotten _really_ drunk. There was a small breach between drunk Luffy and snoring-his-life-away Luffy in which the alcohol effects started to recede and his brain gave up on inventing new tricks to amuse himself and his public, a small breach of time in which Luffy became a) voraciously hungry, much to Sanji's dismay, and b) a nonsense-spurting specimen who didn't know when to stop talking or what he was talking about for that matter. It was just Zoro's luck that he had been the one to have to deal with it today.

Luffy had been going on about how much he missed Sanji's food, all the while whining at how there wasn't enough in the platters Zoro had brought him, but Zoro had shut him down as soon as the thought of Sanji's homemade breakfast irrupted in his mind, making him frown. It surprised him how much he actually missed it, as much as it pissed him off. If Sanji ever knew that, he'd make his life hell. He got angry at himself and glared hard at his dish, engulfing the last bit of scrambled egg and taking three large sips of his orange juice with almost an aggressive demeanor, trying to force the thought of Sanji's meals out of his mind before it rose the question of _when_ Sanji would be able to cook again, which he wasn't in the mood to think about.

"By the way, what's it like?"

Zoro came back from wherever he was keeping his thoughts from going as his brain detected a change of topic, which required his attention back if he didn't want Luffy sulking and whining about the fact that Zoro wasn't listening to him, which Zoro didn't have the patience to put up with anymore. He gave Luffy a questioning look. Luffy being random was quite their day to day routine, and he had been so for the past twenty minutes, but even Zoro got lost with him sometimes. One never knew what came next with Luffy, and he could just hope he wouldn't ask him about how babies were made.

"What's what like?"

"Living in perpetual denial."

Zoro choked on his own saliva and he swore that had been a close call. "What?" he managed with a strangled voice.

"Nami said you seemed to enjoy it but I don't really get it. Do you really enjoy it? What are you in denial about anyways?"

Zoro swore he was going to kill that bitch.

* * *

"What the fuck did you tell him?!" he barked the moment he barged into his deeply hated hotel room.

Nami turned around in her seat to send him an unimpressed look.

"Who did I tell what?"

"Don't play dumb!" Zoro irritably yelled as he threateningly stood in front of her with an accusing finger pointed at her face.

Nami frowned at him, both in annoyance and confusion, the gesture coming out as quite authentic and believable.

"Zoro, I honestly don't know what you are on about," she tiredly replied.

She hadn't gone to sleep yet since she had started her watch right after the party had ended, and she was honestly having trouble staying awake.

Zoro didn't buy her confusion for a second. Her furrowed eyebrows only managed to irk him more, if that was even possible.

"Don't you fucking lie, witch!"

"Oi!"

Zoro blinked in surprise when Sanji's voice interrupted whatever Nami was about to retort, causing both of them to turn their heads towards the blonde, who was making an effort to sit on his bed, sending a deadly glare at Zoro.

"You're supposed to be sleeping," Zoro intelligently babbled, suddenly feeling his stomach drop in nervousness. It's not like Sanji could know what Zoro was talking about, but the fact of having him aware of Zoro's outburst made it seem like he had been caught red-handed. Which was stupid, really, since not even Zoro knew what he was talking about. Nami's words, which Luffy had repeated, could've referred to _anything_ or nothing at all, it didn't necessarily have to be related to the blonde, but Zoro had had that feeling ever since Luffy had spurted the question, and he couldn't shake it away. What exactly had Nami meant and what exactly had she said?

"Not if you break in here yelling like a caveman," Sanji huffed, his tone clearly pissed off. He scrunched his eyebrows for a second and the thought hit Zoro that the blonde might be having an actual headache, but Sanji was fast to compose himself and go back to his glaring marathon. "Also, don't you dare yell at her again or I'm going to kick your sorry ass."

"Sanji, you need to rest," Nami's calm voice interceded.

Which made Zoro automatically snap.

"Shut your-"

"Don't be rude to her!" Sanji barked, not letting him finish whatever he was going to spit.

And really, Zoro's patience had seen better days.

"Can't you leave me alone?!" he yelled, his tone tight and high-pitched with stress.

"I will when you leave her alone," Sanji firmly replied.

Nami rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, sending them an unamused look. This kind of scene had been the usual ever since those two had been put together under the same pirate flag, but the confrontations had only gotten worse ever since they had been stuck in that room, and it was never fun for the one on watch to witness.

"Sanji, I'm fine," she cut in with a sigh. Then she gave a pointed look at Zoro, silently demanding what the hell was going on. She was sleepy and she didn't have time for this.

Zoro stressedly glared at her, then at Sanji. He went back to face her and turned her around so that his back was facing Sanji and the blonde couldn't see Nami's face behind him.

"What did you tell Luffy?" he angrily whispered.

Nami squinted her eyes, not really getting what Zoro was talking about. That until her eyebrows shot high and her expression became one of surprised awareness. So she _had_ told him something.

"Ooops," she let out, planting both her hands in front of her to keep her distance from Zoro.

"'Ooops' what?"

"Never mind, I was drunk. Never mind, never mind," she waved away with a sly smile. She looked both surprised at the memory and amused by it.

Which made Zoro's temper boil.

"Oi! What the hell did you-"

Just as he had taken a menacing step towards Nami, a hand grabbed the back of his shirt and harshly turned him around, after which Zoro found himself being kept in place by Sanji's fist around his collar.

"Stop. Annoying her," Sanji ordered with a deep scowl, which Zoro returned instantly.

And, really, Zoro was usually in control of his own actions; he was especially careful of his reactions when he knew somebody needed him to measure them (which Sanji objectively needed right now), but his instincts finally kicked in full-force and he suddenly had his forehead clashing against Sanji's and his fist grabbing the blonde's shirt.

"You are asking for it, shit cook!"

"Hey, you two stop it already!" Nami groaned behind them, her face reading 'done'.

"Wanna fight me?" Sanji growled back.

By now he had also lost his composure and was letting himself be driven by his natural instincts, by how he knew how to end arguments their way and not the sensible one. Sanji was honestly tired of letting arguments die and end up in frustration for the sake of his own health.

Both of them missed their own way to handle things, as dysfunctional as it may seem to outsiders, and it had only taken one of them to use his hands for the other to react and for both of them to break the dreaded boundaries and welcome the fight. They were too pissed off, both at each other and at the world, and they had been bottling up too much as to care about what was sensible or not anymore.

Sanji felt adrenaline running through his veins the moment Zoro's hand got a hold of his clothes. His feet itched for contact and he knew, by the way Zoro's fingers twitched, that the green head itched for his confiscated swords as well. He only realized he had let a smirk come out the moment he saw it on Zoro's face.

"I told you to stop!" Nami ordered, her tone biting. Chopper wasn't going to like this and she was too tired as to physically pull them apart. Not to mention the fact that she was 200% done with both of them by now.

Zoro's arm flexed as he shoved Sanji back without getting rid of the fabric in between his hands, which made him follow Sanji's steps right away. Just that Sanji was supposed to shove back or kick him. Instead, he tripped. It's not like anyone would have noticed had they been watching, but Zoro's hand against Sanji's chest felt the slightest quiver in the blonde's balance the moment he placed his last step on the floor, and he could definitely read the surprise in his eyes as he realized he didn't have everything under control.

Zoro wouldn't have needed to do so, but he pulled Sanji back the moment he felt it: a slight twitch of his biceps and Sanji was back in balance, his body closer to his.

It was right then when their fighting thirst broke. It turned to ashes the moment they both felt the minuscule misstep. It burned down the moment Zoro saw confusion cross Sanji's features, the moment he _knew_ Sanji's sight had clouded for a second as the blonde blinked four times and looked straight into Zoro's eyes with a stern expression mirroring his.

Zoro felt frustration come back full-force, hitting him in the face like a slap. He clenched his jaw, knowing that his pent-up sour mood's outlet was being blocked again and was going to be so for a considerable amount of time. He wasn't good at self-restraint; not when he had a challenge in front of him and he couldn't take it. And it was taking a toll on him, especially when he had so much frustration caged inside to let out.

Sanji's hand lessened the pressure on Zoro's shirt, almost letting it go, barely resting his fingers against it, and that was when Zoro realized his eye had been planted on Sanji's lips for a good ten seconds, which he was now hyper aware of. Sanji was frowning at him and, in between the frustration he was oozing, Zoro could read a warning.

Just that he didn't take it.

His eye was still fixed on Sanji's lips, which were too close for comfort yet too alluring to stop looking at.

Sanji's hand finally let go of him and Zoro felt the tension in how Sanji's jaw clenched painfully.

Maybe it was that last gesture that made Zoro snap back into reality, his eye shooting straight towards Sanji's blue ones in a slightly freaked out tic as realization hit him.

"Fuck."

Zoro let go of Sanji as if his hand had caught fire. He was deeply aware of Nami's presence behind him all of the sudden, which made him turn back and glare at her, not sure of what to do with himself.

Fleeing sounded inviting.

And so he did.

"Where are you going? You need to rest as well," Nami wearily asked from the door frame, poorly hiding a tiny bit of concern which Zoro would never admit having sensed.

But she didn't have much time to get annoyed at the greenhead's sudden disappearance. Her attention was caught by the fact that Sanji didn't bother yelling back at Zoro or scolding him for ignoring her. By the time she glanced at him, he was sitting back in bed with a dark frown tinting his features in a worn out way Nami had never seen him show. When he noticed she was looking at him, he gave her a small smile and a quiet apology. Next thing she knew he was laying on his side, sheets covering his shoulders and face towards the wall so that Nami couldn't get a glimpse of it.

Nami rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time that day and sat back down on her chair, wishing for the last half hour of her watch to go by fast. She needed some sleep. And she needed to be away from that pair of ungrateful idiots. If they ever knew all the trouble she was going through for them, Zoro would surely be less of an asshole to her, but it's not like she would ever tell them.

She cursed herself a bit, though. Someone had introduced to the Strawhats one of Terevera's most successful drinks last night, which they had abused of, and she had gotten pretty drunk (like, really drunk: the drink looked like nothing, but it had hit them in the face with the force of a truck after a few pints), but that didn't excuse out-of-topic comments slipping her lips in front of careless people like Luffy. It had been an innocent remark, really, a random thought she had put out loud in between sips as she had been complaining about how stupid Zoro and Sanji were, but it turned out it hadn't only been Robin listening; Luffy was also by her side.

Name clicked her tongue. Oh, well.

As for Sanji, if his mood had been bad up until now, it had only gotten worse in a matter of seconds. Just when he had found an outlet to his frustrations, his body had messed up with the opportunity. He was angry at himself, angry at his weak body. It's not like it had been a big misstep, but both of them knew when things weren't 100% alright. Months before they would've still fought, wounded or not, just for the fun of it, just to let their frustrations out, but things had slowly been changing lately and they now found themselves being more thoughtful towards each other. Not only that, they had received a pretty clear ultimatum from Chopper: they weren't allowed to fool around and this time it was a serious order. Sanji's overdose had gotten the worst out of Chopper and they both knew that messing up with him wouldn't cut it anymore, at least for a while, so they stuck to obeying the medical protocol, even if was clearly taking a toll on their patience.

That hadn't been what had unsettled him the most out of everything, though.

He pressed his lips together, clenching his teeth and cursing around in the privacy of his head.

He had seen the way Zoro had stared at his lips.

His stomach had dropped and it was now churning violently in an ocean of pent-up tension.

His levels of frustration, which were already high, had skyrocketed, and he found himself not knowing what to do with himself anymore.

* * *

"Chopper!"

Zoro's fist knocked hard against the rich wooden door at a frantic pace. He was standing outside the room Chopper, Luffy and Usopp shared and he knew almost for sure that both the long-nose and their doctor would still be sleeping since they had probably only gotten in bed two or three hours ago, but he decided he didn't give a fuck if he woke them up. They were all partly responsible of his distress after all, especially Chopper.

"Oi! Open the damn door, I need to talk to you, come on!"

He didn't normally talk like this to the reindeer. If he was to be honest, he did have a soft spot for their doctor, and he would always have extra patience and tactfulness when interacting with him, but his restraint had reached its limit and his mood was at its lowest, so there was no special treatment this time around.

"Hey! Chopper!"

He then heard muffled sounds coming from the other side of the door, and he slammed his fist against the hard wood once more for emphasis before falling silent and waiting for them to let him in. He heard a faint click and next thing he saw was Usopp's sleepy face looking both confused and pissed off.

"What is going on?" the snipper whined the moment he saw Zoro's scowl. "You woke me up, I have barely slept, man, couldn't you just-"

"I need to talk to Chopper," Zoro prodded.

He made it to force his way passed the sniper and inside, but he stopped mid-step as he took notice of Usopp's change of expression. It went from barely awake and whiney to full-on aware and worried, which had Zoro frowning back at him in disconcert.

"Is Sanji okay?" Usopp asked, fully serious this time.

Zoro blinked in bewilderment, his heart skipping a beat at the mention of Sanji's name, the same feeling of nervousness hitting him like a hammer. Why was Usopp asking about Sanji? What did he know? What did he-?

Then realization assaulted him and his freaked-out frown softened as he tried to find coherent words to answer him with.

"He is fine," he successfully managed to reassure him, internally berating himself for being an idiot.

He had done it again. He hadn't realized he had been doing it until now, but it had been happening _a lot_ lately: every time someone mentioned Sanji or slipped a comment which Zoro's brain somehow (and sometimes irrationally) linked to the cook, Zoro got that weird feeling of having been caught, a feeling triggered by the thought that everyone else seemed to know something he didn't. Every time Sanji was mentioned, his automatic reaction would be wondering _why _he had been mentioned in front of him, and what hid behind those words. Which was idiotic. For the most part, there was never a hidden meaning, it was just a random comment which Zoro somehow turned into a threatening chimera in his head.

He had just thrown a tantrum at Nami without really knowing what Luffy was on about (even if he was pretty sure it did have something to do with Sanji, if he had to take Nami's usual knack for complicating his life into account). If he had to be rational, his reaction had been way too overly-exaggerated and probably unnecessary.

Just now, he had gotten blocked at Usopp's question simply because he hadn't been expecting him to somehow bring the cook into the conversation, which he had done out of the blue. It had been stupid. Of course Usopp would ask. Zoro was permanently sharing his time with Sanji and he had practically barged into their room at an unusual hour with a pretty hysterical attitude calling for their doctor; anyone would've assumed there may be something wrong with the blonde.

Zoro groaned and walked inside with his temper boiling. He _did_ have a problem. Not only was he slightly obsessed ('slightly' because he wouldn't admit to anything else), he was also paranoid now.

He blamed it all on the stress and frustration of being locked up.

And this is why he was there.

"Chopper," he called, taking a small detour to find Chopper staring at him from Luffy's empty bed, more than likely not knowing what was going on. He looked more asleep than awake.

Zoro walked towards him, his steps far from his usual nonchalant ones. He felt and looked nervous and fidgety, and that was unusual enough as for Chopper to knit his eyebrows questioningly, trying to clear his head.

Zoro didn't give him the time to start processing what was being said to him before kneeling down in front of the reindeer and starting on his rant.

"Look. I have been obedient. I have done what you wanted me to do, I have behaved," he pointed out, his tone clearly pissed off. "But I need out. And I need out _now_, Chopper, not in a few days when I am feeling better because there's no feeling better if I have to spend one more second in between these fucking walls."

Chopper openly frowned at him. He was about to say something, but Zoro cut him without a second thought.

"I am asking nicely so that you have a chance to put your own conditions if that'll leave you feeling less stressed out about this. But if I get a no, I'll still flee this damn shitty hole, and I'll do things my way-"

"Will you shut up?" Chopper snapped. He was scowling hard, and even if he looked way more adorable than menacing, Zoro knew that the reindeer was genuinely annoyed, which made him do as he was told for once.

Usopp was staring at them from his bed, frown in place and fingers intertwined. He just wanted to go to sleep, to be honest. Yet he couldn't bring himself to _try _to kick Zoro out: the swordsman was clearly stressed out and about to burst, and the fact that he was _showing_ it was alarming in itself. He had seen it coming. Zoro wasn't made to be locked up, much less with Sanji as a roommate, _much less_ after they had all been scared to death when Sanji's heart had stopped beating, which had put a stress yoke on each one of them but had affected Zoro way more than it had affected the rest, leaving him acting a bit out of character for a while now. They had all seen it, even if they hadn't really commented on it. And Zoro had been bottling it up ever since without a real outlet to use, since Sanji was his usual way out and he wasn't a possibility right now. Usopp was genuinely surprised that Zoro hadn't yet broken shit.

"I am letting you out," Chopper reticently conceded. Which surprised everyone in the room. None of them had expected Chopper to give in this easily. "I was about to, anyways."

"You were about to?" Zoro asked in angry disbelief.

"Yes, I was planning on discharging you tomorrow, but if you're going to suffer a stroke over a few more hours I might as well just do it now," he groaned, his voice thick with sleep.

Zoro blinked a few times, not really knowing what to say next. He had been planning on ranting for hours until he got his liberty back, and he was planning on being pretty aggressive about it, so he was a bit at loss of what to do right now.

"I bet there's a 'but'," he suspiciously pointed out.

"There are several 'buts' indeed, but it's not like you have a choice," Chopper stubbornly replied, his frown deeper and all the more adorable, yet severe. Chopper was a weird combination of adjectives; it usually confused the hell out of Zoro, who couldn't decide if he wanted to yell at the reindeer or use him as his personal teddy bear.

Not that he'd ever own or want a teddy bear, _of course_.

He settled for rolling his eyes for good measure in aggravation.

"List them."

"You don't get to go out alone."

"Wait-"

"You don't seem to understand. This is not negotiable, by any means," Chopper cut him, his tone as professional and severe as it could get. When he went into doctor mode he really did a 360◦ turn personality-wise. "Either you accept or I tie you down in a bed, don't go thinking I'll let you do what you want without my supervision, because I am intent on resorting to drastic measures this time around since neither you nor Sanji seem to understand the meaning of common sense."

Zoro looked way beyond outraged at that, but Chopper didn't give him the chance to start an argument.

"You don't get to go out alone," he repeated, more firmly this time. "I don't want you picking fights and getting hurt again."

"But I am fine! For fuck's sake, Chopper, it wasn't me who was gravely injured! I've been _way_ worse and up and working in less than 12 hours, stop treating me like I'm a weakling!"

"And here I thought you wanted out," Chopper airily sighed, leaving Zoro with his mouth open and finally clacking shut. His patience was about to burn to ashes.

"What else?"

"You are going to let me examine your wounds before you go out and you are going to let me sleep first. Which means you will be able to go out tonight with us when we attend whichever party Nami decides we'll be going to, but _not _before."

They shared a leveled defying glare, but Zoro didn't open his mouth to complain. He needed Chopper's permission and he had just decided he'd grab onto anything he offered as long as it meant leaving his room and the hotel.

"Also, you are not drinking tonight. I don't want alcohol messing with the stuff I am still administering to you. Are we clear on this?"

Zoro let out a huff as his eye rolled to the ceiling in frustration, but he ended up nodding. He was pissed off. He didn't like these conditions. Especially not the last one. _Definitely_ not the last one.

"Okay."

"Cool. Now let us sleep."

"About time," they heard Usopp mutter in relief.

* * *

Music was blasting through speakers and Zoro swore he had never seen as much madness concentrated in one place, which is saying a lot taking into account that the Strawhats were specialists in installing madness everywhere they went to.

Okay, if he were to be honest, he had been in equally as mad parties before, but this one could be counted inside his personal top 10 list.

Everyone, except for Robin, who had stayed with Sanji, was there, and Zoro could already feel his heart beating at the same beat the music had set, a small smirk slipping as adrenaline tickled him in the slightest tantalizing way.

"You don't get to drink," Chopper reminded him.

Zoro looked back at him with a scowl and waved him away.

"I'm being serious."

"Me too," Zoro yelled over the deafening noise engulfing them. "Now let me be."

Chopper was about to retort again, but Usopp conveniently appeared by his side and dragged him away towards the bar.

"He can't drink!" he faintly heard Chopper screech at their backs, but Zoro could only grin. Usopp was saying something as well, something about a drink, but Zoro couldn't quite grasp what his words meant. Damn, it was loud.

Zoro patiently (and frustratingly) waited for Usopp to get his first pint of the night without giving in to the need of getting one himself, then got dragged back to the very center of the mess, where Luffy was already doing something stupid which made them laugh like hyenas straight away.

Even without drinking, he had a feeling it was going to be a good night.

That's why he couldn't quite explain why, even after a good two hours of being dragged around and laughing at the most idiotic things his crewmates could muster, he still had that nagging feeling creeping into him. It was the kind of restlessness that turns into an itch, one that can't be scratched away and bugs you all night long, keeping a permanent tight knot in your chest. It wasn't necessarily bad or fun-impeding, but it was there and very presently so.

Maybe he had too much stress bottled up as to have gotten rid of it yet, no matter how much he had been laughing and yelling over the last few hours. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that everyone around him was wasted while he had to deal with everything while being sober (and, yes, Zoro didn't really get drunk no matter how much alcohol he actually downed, but there was a solid difference between having a warm buzz in your system and not feeling it at all).

Maybe frustration was still hitting him like a truck.

At some point he saw a flash of blonde and something in his chest twisted. It wasn't Sanji, obviously, but everything inside him had screamed his name. Zoro frowned, feeling the itch hit him tenfold. Fuck. Just when he was into having a good time and worries had started to fade away… Why did Sanji have to be imprinted in his thoughts pretty much 24/7? He had just seen blonde hair, it's not like there aren't millions of people with that hair color around the world!

And there went one of the main reasons for his permanent restlessness. He had gone out that night in order to stay away from Sanji, in order to avoid things like these happening, yet there he was, growing anxious over a flash of blonde hair.

He did try to go back to the mindless state he had been sinking into all along the night, but from then on he kept seeing flashes of that same shade of blonde, which always managed to get his attention from wherever he had it placed.

It was a woman. A stunningly beautiful one, for that matter, that was something Zoro could objectively appreciate. Zoro was way more drawn to attitude than he was to physical appearance, without a doubt, but it was her hair that stole his glances, and then her eyes, whose shade of blue he was familiar with. At some point he found her looking back and Zoro blinked his stupidity away. Enough of that game. Any other night he might have just decided to go for it and have fun, but his incomprehensible restlessness had his wits blocked.

That until she walked to him and Zoro found himself leaning against a wall with his arms crossed and the blonde standing in front of him with an amused smirk.

"Hello," she teasingly greeted over the ruckus.

Zoro was definitely _not_ drunk, nor could he possibly be, but there's that point in parties where you lose your hearing and end up in a daze in which the most prominent feeling you can process or comprehend is the beat of the music reverberating through your body and bones. By then, your brain is only half registering what is going around you and your thoughts start to sink into lethargy. That was exactly the state of Zoro's awareness right now. If it wasn't for the itch that kept telling him there had been something off with him since the start of the night, he would be pretty much as good as if he had been tipsy.

"Hi," he muttered, knowing she wouldn't be able to hear him. Yet she grinned.

"Want a drink?" she offered.

Zoro raised an eyebrow. Again, any other night, he would have already accepted and, maybe taken her somewhere private.

He _did_ feel like having some action tonight, he now realized, maybe that's what the restlessness was really all about. The mere thought of having some (which usually didn't affect him all that much) made the itch sharper, which led him to easily guess what his body was suggesting him to do in order to relieve the stress and frustration he knew were low key torturing him. Sex was as good a weapon against tension as any.

But it was that same itch that led him to shake his head. "I can't drink. Doctor's orders."

She chuckled and Zoro wondered what the hell was so funny. He was miserable right now, excuse her. He couldn't help but notice she had a beautiful smile, though.

"There's this drink we have here," she yelled. When Zoro scrunched his face in an effort to hear better, she boldly took a step closer and proceeded to resume yelling in his ear. "There's this famous drink in Terevera: it barely contains alcohol but the effects are just as good! You may want to try that!"

Zoro titled his head to the side a bit so that he could properly look at her with a frown very present in his features.

"I'm not doing drugs."

He wasn't exactly surprised when she burst out laughing, but he couldn't help but stare at the way her hair slightly bounced on her shoulders, his eye locked on her strands, which somehow had been catching his attention all night. The 'why' wasn't that that much of a wonder if he was to be honest with himself, but he refused to keep on connecting _everything_ he thought about or felt with the annoying blonde they had for a cook. Enough is enough.

"It's not a drug, honey, it's just a drink. Didn't take you for a paranoid," she mocked. "It's similar to beer, taste-wise. Just that with about five times less alcohol and, well, _sharper _effects, if you will. It's a specialty here in Terevera, I'm not trying to pull your leg. I've seen a lot of doctors agreeing to their patients drinking that, if that's what you're worried about."

"Why are you insisting?" Zoro bluntly asked, eyebrow raised in suspicion.

To which she raised an eyebrow in response, mirroring his expression, just that she tinted it with a smug smirk.

"Because you're worth my insistence, Mr. Victor," she seductively muttered. He almost wanted to scoff. She had just identified herself as a fan. "Feel like keeping me company while I go order a drink for both of us? You'll thank me later, I promise: it's the best in town."

Zoro stared at her for a good ten seconds before the itching managed to untangle a knot in his stomach and Zoro pushed himself away from the wall and dangerously close to her.

"You lead the way. But I'm not having sex with you, Miss Stalker. I'm just in for the booze."

"I don't recall offering you sex, have I?" she teasingly smirked.

And Zoro smirked in return.

Had it been any other night, maybe a few months ago, they would be elsewhere by now, doing exactly what Zoro had told her they wouldn't be doing tonight. But tonight wasn't any other night.

Was it?

* * *

Zoro was on his fourth pint when a freaked out Chopper appeared in his line of sight, yelping something at him, which he didn't really understand until he had him yelling in his face.

"_I told you not to drink!"_ he screeched.

Zoro gave him an unimpressed look, his senses slightly numb and his reaction a tiny bit derailed before he turned around to point an accusing glare at the sassy blonde that had been chatting him up for almost an hour now.

"Told you."

But instead of looking surprised or bothered by the intrusion, she merely perked up and drew the kind of expression every single person with a thing for cute things would draw every time they saw the little reindeer: that of adoration.

"You are soooo cute!" she yelled, taking a hold of Chopper and effectively snatching him away from Zoro, who took the chance to down what was left of his drink before Chopper could get rid of it. "Are you the doctor?" she asked.

Zoro tuned them down as Chopper started yelling at her the usual shit he'd yell at anyone who dared compliment him, but it only got him hugs and a lot of petting in return. The swordsman looked ahead and blinked a bit. The woman, who had introduced herself as Vanessa, had told him that the drink didn't have that much alcohol to begin with, but he was slightly swaying and feeling a bit numb. Which had him blinking in annoyance. He didn't normally get to that point even if he downed fifteen pints in a row (which he had done many times before), but here he was, feeling slightly off and confused. Not the bad kind of confused, more like the 'not that much in control of where I am looking or what I am doing' kind of confused. Which was rather foreign to him since he only ever got like this on few occasions. His whole body had considerably relaxed, but the itching had seemed to increase with every pint he drank, which had him feeling way more restless than he had been feeling at the beginning of the night, yet way more accepting of that condition than he had initially felt, if that makes any sense.

In the slight jumble that Zoro's brain went through for what felt like an eternity, he heard a clack and found another full pint in front of him. A second glance told him that Chopper was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is Chopper?" he absently asked, ignoring the drink for a moment.

Vanessa smiled at him, sipping at her own new drink.

"The cute reindeer? I chased him away," she chuckled.

Zoro raised an eyebrow but ended up smiling in amusement as he realized Vanessa's cutesy act had only been exactly that: an effective plan to get Chopper away from them. She didn't really look like the 'I die for cute things' type anyway.

"This one's on me," she added while pointing at Zoro's still untouched drink.

He looked at it for a moment, something in the back of his mind suggesting that he shouldn't take it, but he didn't really process the thought as he mindlessly did so and started sipping at it.

"You said there wasn't that much alcohol in it," he muttered, half accusingly. He wasn't sure if she could hear him over the blasting music, but he didn't have the mind to raise his voice to make sure that she could.

She still seemed to make up the words he had spoken, though, since she was fast to answer.

"I _did_ say that it had sharper effects than alcohol, though, didn't I?"

Zoro's gaze travelled to the smirk she was sporting, and he found himself lazily smirking back. His body felt warm and indolent, almost as if nothing could stress him out anymore, just that the ever-present twists in his chest and stomach kept alternatively doing wonders to unsettle him every now and then. He was feeling eager for _something_, and his body had a good idea of exactly what it was, just that his remaining presence of mind kept tugging him back.

"Feeling the effects yet?" she asked, leaning closer with a smile.

He looked down at her, analyzed her beautiful blonde hair, her taunting lips and her deep blue eyes. He wasn't easily interested in people, but when he felt inclined to start something with someone he did so in quite an intense and straightforward way, since it normally meant he did need the contact. And maybe it was because of the itching, maybe it was only because he _really_ needed said contact to get rid of the ever-present tension he couldn't stand anymore, but he had to admit to himself that he was attracted to that woman, and she was pretty clearly interested in him as well. Which made him wonder why he hadn't yet made a move. If he had really wanted to, he would already be doing the do somewhere else.

His stomach dropped and he felt a surge of desire run through his hazy state.

Maybe he _did_ want to.

She seemed to notice how his eye had laid on her lips for longer than necessary and she jumped down from her stool in order to make herself some space in between Zoro's legs, right in front of him, faces close.

"Do you have a cute girlfriend waiting for you back home?" she boldly asked, knowing smile still in place. "Is that why you are doubting?"

Zoro could've easily said no. Or he could have just told her that he did have a girlfriend and cut the flirting from scratch.

"I don't do cute," he grunted. He felt the need to blink a bit as a foreign sensation got up to his head and destabilized him a bit even while being seated. She hadn't been joking when she had warned him of the effects of that drink being sharper than the ones alcohol induced, but it still hit him as weird. Was it how it felt to actually be tipsy?

She laughed.

"Oh my God, it really hit you."

Zoro didn't know why he lazily smiled back at her with amusement written all over his features when he wasn't all that amused to begin with, but he didn't seem to be much in control of his actions.

Vanessa had really beautiful blue eyes, he randomly noticed, not for the first time that night. They were the same shade as…

Vanessa leaned closer, tentatively so, and all thoughts vanished from his far from sober brain. One last flash told him that he would regret this later on, but he didn't consciously register it as her lips grazed his and his awareness was swept away by the overwhelming need of physical contact. He didn't actively decide on responding to the kiss, but he was most definitely pressing back, and hungrily so, which elicited a hum of content out of Vanessa, which he felt through his lips.

The itching calmed down a tad, being overpowered by desire, and Zoro low key felt satisfied that he had just found an effective way to release his frustration.

She hooked her arms around Zoro's neck and Zoro lazily but firmly brought her closer by her hips as he deepened the kiss, letting all of his frustrations be poured in the action.

"Aren't you eager?" Vanessa snickered into his lips.

Zoro ignored her words, partly because he couldn't really hear them over the general noisy atmosphere, and partly because his mind was somewhere else, far away. The moment he had found lips to kiss, his brain had disconnected, which he now realized was exactly what he had _needed_ for a long time now. It wasn't lust as much as it was the feeling of abandon and simplicity that he had been craving, something uncomplicated such as human contact: a pair of lips he could kiss, a body he could use to vent his exacerbation on since he wasn't allowed any other way out when he desperately needed one.

Zoro had occasionally used the company of women to unwind his pent-up tension, which was a great way to achieve it, but it's not like he had ever _needed_ it. He was in no condition whatsoever to think straight right now, but if he had been able to put his brain to work for a second he would've realized that there was a reason for that, and it was Sanji. Sanji, who was always there and willing to take a fight or start one; Sanji, who could take whatever Zoro threw his way without blinking; who would actually make Zoro sweat; who would rile up his adrenaline and leave him drained of any existing frustration by the end of their fights; Sanji, who was as much the cause of most of his stress as he was his way out of it.

Sanji, who, for the first time, wasn't there and available to take what Zoro needed to throw out of his organism.

And, even if his brain was most definitely not processing these musings, his mind must have taken him somewhere near that line of thought because Sanji suddenly popped in his mind.

Sanji, who was back in their shared hotel suite, who was probably sleeping and oblivious to everything going on outside of his slumber. Sanji, who he had almost kissed that morning out of an aborted fight that had left them both hanging amidst trying to achieve what Zoro was getting right now: physical relief to all of their personal and shared pent-up tension.

Zoro groaned into the kiss and pushed further, getting a hold of Vanessa's thighs and forcing her on his lap in order to create more friction. His body readily agreed with the action, but his mind seemed to still be reticent as it started wreaking havoc inside him, flashing him with annoying images of him and Sanji making out, the memories vivid inside his head, which was supposed to have stopped thinking a while ago.

This was supposed to make him forget about everything, this was supposed to make him find relief, but it was only making his anxiousness grow, which his (more than definitely) drunk brain cells confused for lust and the need to go further in order to get the itch to stop.

Vanessa slid a hand under his dress shirt and Zoro let his travel south and get a hold of her butt, which became a rather aggressive gesture straight away as the itch controlling his body convinced him of the fact that there wasn't enough contact. This wasn't having the effect it should have had. It was definitely not enough.

At some point, they breathlessly took a second to pull away in order not to choke, the intention of getting somewhere private clearly readable in their eyes. Zoro had been about to pull her out of his lap and drag her somewhere else when his stomach plummeted to the ground the moment he realized _what_ was missing.

He hadn't noticed it when he was sober, he hadn't noticed it when he had started being tipsy either, but he saw it clear as day now. He had been dragged by that blonde mane but what had pulled him in had ultimately been her eyes. They were a shade of blue his sober mind had been fast to compare to Sanji's, a shade of blue his tipsy mind had thought to be the exact same as Sanji's. It's funny how drunken people seem to lose sight of reality, how they seem to stop understanding what's going on around them, yet they sometimes notice the smallest details they would've never put their attention on had they been sober. Maybe it was the way light seemed to shine differently for him, the way things seemed to happen in slow motion, the way his attention got deeply caught by irrelevant things for longer than he could perceive, but it was right then when Zoro noticed that he had been _so_ very wrong.

Vanessa's eyes weren't Sanji's shade of blue. Not even close to that. They were deceivingly similar, but Sanji's spark was lost in them. Their blue wasn't _impossible_. He squinted his eye, making a conscious effort to discern the ocean in them (given his inebriated state, he _actually_ thought she may have part of it encaged in her irises as much as he was positive that Sanji held a small portion of actual ocean in his), but it wasn't there. Not even a trace of it.

Zoro's expression lost all passion as he blankly stared at Vanessa's eyes, an unreadable expression taking over him.

The drunken and fairly simple thought crossed his mind that Vanessa wasn't Sanji.

And so he understood that the itch wouldn't fade away, not even if he got to fuck her hard in an empty toilet stall, as it was apparent in both their gazes that they both had wanted at some point. And it's not like Zoro had stopped wanting it, but his intoxicated logic made it pretty clear that he just _couldn't_ do it.

Because she didn't bottle up the raging ocean Zoro loved to challenge inside, she didn't know how to handle him like the damn cook did; she wasn't the reason for his itch and so she wouldn't be able to make it go away, simple as that.

"What the fuck do you think you are doing?!"

Zoro was genuinely surprised when the screechy voice he had just heard registered as Nami's, who he now noticed was standing inches away from his and Vanessa's faces. He frowned in confusion, mildly annoyed but mostly lost at what exactly the redhead that had been pissing him off all day was doing there. Did she want to join? _Ew_, no, he wouldn't touch her that way in a gazillion years, excuse her. He was about to drop that information to her when Nami started yanking at his shirt, yelling at him to stop grabbing the blonde's butt and at her to get off Zoro, which had Zoro's frail train of thought collapsing in favour of growing even more confused. Was Nami jealous? Did she want him for herself, no sharing? He was about to inform her that he would only ever consider touching her if she forgot about Zoro's debts forever (which he knew she would never do), when Nami rudely interrupted his current poor words-forming capacity by getting a hold of the front of his shirt and shaking him hard, which caused his head to spin violently.

"Hey, snap out of it! What the fuck are you even doing?!"

Zoro looked at her in utter puzzlement as he wondered what the redhead was on about, but then his attention got caught by Vanessa actually getting off his lap, which had him looking back at a pair of blue eyes that didn't bottle up the ocean. A pair of eyes that got angrily fixed on Nami.

"And you are?" Vanessa challengingly snapped, hands on her hips.

Well, if he had to be honest, angry Vanessa was _hot_ (like, really _really _hot), but that didn't cut it anymore. That wasn't enough as for him to yell at Nami to piss off (since Nami had no right whatsoever to cockblock him), which he could've very easily done, more so with how lowered his filters were due to his state. But he didn't.

"My girlfriend."

Zoro couldn't quite decide who was more surprised with his sudden intervention: Nami, Vanessa or himself. But there he was, wrapping his arm around Nami, who was looking at him in utter disbelief until she seemed to snap out of it and thankfully followed the game.

"Not anymore, you prick! There'll have to be a lot of apologizing on your part for me to even start thinking of forgiving you!"

Then she shoved him away and stomped into the crowd, her acting skills leaving Zoro feeling quite impressed and derailing his own act. This is where he was supposed to dramatically follow her and lose Vanessa in the process, wasn't it? He had seen it often enough in parties as to know how it worked, but his brain was apparently not cooperating with him. Shit, he was wasted and it was only getting worse.

"Really, now?" Vanessa broke in, eyebrow raised.

Zoro scrunched his nose. Why did she look like she didn't believe him at all?

"She's a great actress but I can't say the same for you."

Zoro was now scowling hard, what was _definitely not_ a pout starting to form in his lips. "That's a bit offensive."

"Man, you really are drunk," Vanessa huffed, exasperation showing through. Then went back to serious mode. "Okay, mind telling me what's really going on? You had stopped way before she interrupted."

Zoro blinked at her, trying to focus. Having only one working eye made seeing properly a bit of a struggle sometimes, but he swore he had never seen double before and it was starting to feel like he was right now. Despite how some remainders of his sober self were contemplating the situation as ridiculous and frankly pathetic, and despite the overall confusion and lack of balance, something kept dropping in Zoro's stomach by the second. Frustration was reaching high levels again, hitting him with double the vice as he once again saw an exit to his problems being blocked, this time by himself.

But there was a heavier weight than that:

Vanessa wasn't Sanji.

His eyebrows furrowed as he tried to concentrate on something in particular rather than the many guilty twists his stomach and chest were going through for quite a remarkable amount of different reasons.

When he raised his head again (which he kind of regretted since it started spinning at a dangerous pace that had him clutching the counter for stability), he was hit with the urge to start breaking things out of frustration. He hadn't signed up to star in a damn soap opera, yet his life was beginning to resemble one.

"So?"

Vanessa was clearly not happy. When Zoro didn't manage an answer, the blonde lost her patience.

"Come on, it's not like you weren't enjoying it!" she exclaimed, gesturing to Zoro's half visible boner.

Zoro looked down at it in slight disbelief, verifying the fact that _yes_, he had been enjoying it. And half of his instincts were screaming at him to get it over with and just chase his release, which she was handing to him, but the other half were screaming Sanji's name and reminding him of the absurd fact that her eyes didn't hold his shade of blue. Which really is an extremely stupid reason to ground a 'no' in when your body is clearly giving you signs that you _need_ to get laid once and for all, but it somehow struck him as crucial.

Her blonde hair and blue eyes had been what had drawn him to her first, the similarities with his blonde (wait, _his_ blonde?) being quite noticeable, yet they had also been what had pushed him away. They kept reminding him of Sanji when he had been trying to get him out of his head, which was counterproductive.

Zoro groaned, angry at himself.

"Look, I… this can't be, I'm sorry if I led you on, but I'm not doing this," he ended up blurting out, his pose defensive. He was usually able to deliver these kind of declinations in a much more straightforward and nonchalant way, he swore, but right now he was having trouble forming words, let alone formulating a coherent and dignified full sentence that wouldn't embarrass himself any further.

Despite him thinking he must have been looking and sounding ridiculous, his actual exterior was far from how unsure and defensive he felt inside, as it sometimes happens when you are drunk and perceive reality in a whole different way than it is actually being displayed. His face was noticeably red with inebriation, but his expression was solid and final, his eyes speaking of detachment.

"I should probably slap you."

"I technically did tell you we weren't having sex," Zoro defended.

Then he wondered what the fuck he was doing. He was wasting his time. Having this conversation was only aggravating his inner turmoil, and he was starting to feel trapped under the perspective that he would have to keep it in without anybody to vent it on. Shit. Why was Sanji injured in times like this? He could've beat the shit out of him and this would already be done and over with, no Vanessas or anyone else involved for that matter.

"Listen, I need to go look for my girlfriend before she dumps my sorry as."

Well, that had been lame. It had sounded an awful lot like something he would've said _about_ Sanji, but he wasn't in his greatest creative moment right now. And why the fuck did he keep thinking about Sanji?! It was all his fault, dammit, always intruding in his thoughts and making things go askew!

"Shit."

"That would've sounded more convincing had you said it right when she left and not two years later, but I never had much faith in your acting skills, so, anyway…"

"Shut up!" Zoro seethed, suddenly snapping. "That sounded an awful lot like him, damn it, drop it already!"

His random rambling was probably not making any sense, but really, he was furious. And it was only getting worse by the moment.

Vanessa stared at him with wide eyes.

"There's a 'him'?"

And that's when Zoro processed what he had just said and his stomach dropped and his face went pale and cold sweat broke down his spine. _Shit_.

"No."

"You know what? Fuck it! This was supposed to be easy, not a damn chess match against a drunkard. If you want your guy, go chase him, I'm done with this."

Vanessa indignantly turned around and Zoro felt the urge to stop her in her tracks for the sole purpose to clarify that there wasn't a 'him' whatsoever, but his body didn't really process the order to start moving, so he stayed there, loud beating in his chest; he didn't know if it was the beat of the music or the one his own heart was stabbing him with.

Oh, shit, this had gone so _bad_ for something that could've been so easy.

Zoro glared at the boner poking in his pants, and he would've kept glaring at it until dawn hadn't someone interrupted him again.

"Way to pull an act."

He blinked twice and then looked at Nami, engulfed by confusion. Just to specify, it was angry confusion this time.

"Were you planning to follow me at some point or…?"

"Drop it, Nami, you are giving me a headache," Zoro groaned, pinching his nose.

When he swayed to the side, Nami held him by his arms and stabilized him, eyebrows knitting.

"Wait, are you drunk?" she suddenly asked in disbelief.

"No," he slurred out.

Nami's eyes grew the size of a plate.

"Oh my God, you _are_. What the hell did you even drink?"

"Not that much…"

"That's not what I'm asking. _What_ did you drink?"

"There's this famous drink in Terevera… she told me about it, but I can't…" he closed his eyes and steeled himself, trying to go back to his train of thought after losing it for a moment. "Can't remember the name-"

"Oh, shit."

"Shit, what?"

"How many pints did you have?"

"Do you know what drink I'm talking about?"

"Oh my God, Zoro, focus! How many?"

"…five?"

"Oh, shit."

"Why do I feel like you are…" Zoro scrunched his nose and thought of that word he had heard Sanji use a few times by now. "Patronizing me?"

Nami ignored him. "We tried it last night, someone recommended it to us as well. We didn't think the effects would be this severe so we also drank… too much of it. It was a disaster."

Zoro looked at her with furrowed eyebrows, suddenly remembering the painful-to-watch state of his nakamas that morning, not to mention Luffy's especially hyperactive behavior in the food court, which he now understood as him still dragging the effects of the damn drink on him.

"How much is too much?"

"Well… locals recommend two pints _maximum_. As in, when you want to end up _really_ drunk. More than that gets your brain cells into hibernation, apparently."

Oh. Now Zoro was starting to understand things. Now he was starting to understand why this had affected him when normal alcohol normally wouldn't. So is this how you feel when you are… drunk? Was he drunk, really?

"Things don't make sense," he complained, even though he didn't even know what he was saying or referring to for that matter. "Nothing makes sense anymore."

"Okay, Zoro, listen to me. Do you even know what you were doing just now?"

Zoro stared at her, weary and tired about everything. Just as much as he was ready to explode. A weird combination indeed.

"I knew _exactly_ what I was doing. Why did you feel the need to intervene? Is cockblocking people fun to you?" then he thought of another possibility he half remembered having considered before in a flash and scrunched his nose. "Were you _jealous_?"

"Shit, _no_!"

"Thanks fuck. That would've been awkward."

"Shut your face. And no, you didn't know what you were doing, that's why I came to kick some sense into that lonely brain cell you have floating in your skull, see if you stopped doing shit that can fuck things up furth-"

"Can you _please_ stop sounding like him?!"

A blink later, he realized what he had just blurted out. His eye snapped open as his stomach twisted in panic and his gaze locked with Nami's, who was already staring at him in what he could only label as shock. The background sound of music seemed to be gone, even if it was still stabbing his eardrums insistently.

_Fuck._

Even if Nami's intuition had been playing a huge role in all of her actions, she had honestly not been expecting Zoro to drop something like this in front of her. Ever. Any other time she would've teased him or gloated in the confirmation of something she had been suspecting all along, but the only thing she found herself able to do was to stare at him as the actual extent of the issue they were dealing with hit her.

Zoro was momentarily terrified, silently wishing Nami hadn't heard what he had just said over the blasting music. Because, if she had, if he had just blurted something like that to one of his crewmates, he was fucked. Never mind the fact that 'him' could be anyone, and most definitely not necessarily someone he was currently obsessed with. Those things weren't even taken into consideration as mitigating circumstances, didn't even cross his mind; not when he was somehow positive that Nami _could_ read through those words if she had happened to hear them.

Things went back into motion and music seemed to fill his senses again as Nami blinked an opened her mouth, forcing Zoro to make an effort to listen.

"The hell did you just say now?" she yelled in a clearly annoyed tone. "Didn't hear you. You better not be insulting me!"

Zoro looked at her in disbelief, but relief washed in as soon as the words left her lips. Thank fuck she hadn't heard! Thank fuck stars had aligned that one time in his favour, if only for a change! However, he knew that staying there any longer could grant him another slip of his tongue, and, not for the first time that day, he felt the need to flee and do it fast. He was in no condition to control himself or what he said, so what was left of logic inside him decided not to risk it further. He had fucked up enough for tonight. So much for having a great night out.

How the hell had he even gone so fast from tipsy to drunk? Had the effects of the drink hit him all at once and only after a while?

"I'm going back," he muttered. He felt his hands slightly trembling and his eye was going out of focus.

"What?!"

"I need to go back!" he yelled over the annoying noise drowning their voices.

Nami blinked at him but was fast to nod, almost as if his idea had been the best one she had heard all day.

"Need me to get you there?"

Was Nami being nice or was he so wasted that he could no longer discern her evilness being thrown at his face?

He was fast to shake his head, taking a step back in a slightly freaked out manner. He wasn't going to risk talking to _anyone_. He might blurt something equally as shitty as everything he had been saying and doing tonight.

"I know how to get back."

Nami raised both eyebrows and Zoro frowned. Was that a condescending look she was sending him? Well, fuck her.

"You'll get lost."

"Leave me alone," he growled as he waved his hands in front of Nami in an attempt to indicate her to get the fuck away. Which must've looked lame, because Nami was staring at him as if his gesture had been just that.

The place was starting to feel claustrophobic for how big it was. Zoro started looking around in a snappy way, the itch crawling up his throat and starting to become unbearable. He needed out right now.

He didn't see or hear Nami sigh, so he was caught off guard when she got a hold of his elbow and started dragging him across the crowd. He yelled something at her, not really sure about what he had said and hoping it wouldn't be anything embarrassing, but she turned around and lightly slapped his mouth as she glared hard at him, which had him feeling even more put off as he stared at her in bewilderment.

"I'm leading you to the front doors, stop whining!" she informed him as she started pulling at him again.

Hold the fuck up, he hadn't been whining! He yelled something in those lines but either the redhead didn't hear him or she ignored him (probably the second one).

"There you go," she huffed once she had pushed him through the doors and out in the mildly cold air of the night, which had him blinking at his surroundings in confusion, trying to understand where the fuck he was standing right now. He swore last thing he was aware of was being amidst the crowd in the center of the hall, how had they crossed what was left so fast?

"Are you sure you'll find your way back on your own?" Nami asked without convincement, basically because she knew she was about to let Zoro get lost in Terevera.

If she hadn't deemed it absolutely _necessary_ for him to leave the party about right now before he would be any more detrimental to himself (wasn't she a good person), she wouldn't have left him on his own, but she knew he needed out and she knew he needed to be alone. She wasn't an idiot. At that point she could clearly see that Zoro was starting to be scared of himself. They both had realized by now that Zoro didn't know how to deal with himself being drunk since he had never been this inebriated in his life, and losing his cool and self-control had him obviously freaking out and acting out of character. Staying with him to make sure he got home would only make it worse as he'd only get all the more defensive. She was slightly in awe that he hadn't yet started breaking stuff.

"I know what I'm doing, witch!" he snapped, stomping away and leaving her standing alone right in front of the door.

Nami raised an eyebrow to the darkness and let out a deep sigh, trying not to worry too much about the way things had just seemed to reveal themselves as more complicated than she had initially thought they were.

"You are welcome, you immense idiot," she muttered, rolling her eyes and starting to feel a headache forming. Honestly, she didn't know why she kept going out of her way to help his sorry ass when all she got back in return was that attitude.

"Is everything okay?"

Nami turned around to find Usopp looking at her with a worried frown.

"Saw you running around with Zoro and he didn't look all too well."

Nami smiled a bit, patting his shoulder.

"It's fine, it's just that he drank too much of what we drank last night. He was just a bit confused."

Usopp half-heartedly returned her smile, but she could still see concern in his eyes.

"He's been… well, not really acting like himself lately," he carefully commented, almost as if he didn't fully want to make assumptions or suggest anything in particular, keeping the statement as just an observation.

Name studied him a bit and shrugged. She was slightly tipsy as well and she would've enjoyed a bit of gossip and teasing, but neither Nami or Usopp were looking for that at the moment. Much less Nami, who was now starting to realize that the less meddling in they did, the less they'd complicate the issue for those two idiots (leaving punctual interventions just like hers right now as an actual option since sometimes they did need a nudge).

"I didn't mean to gossip," Usopp was fast to defend when she didn't answer, suddenly feeling like he had commented on something he shouldn't have. "I was just worried and-"

"I get it. I am kind of worried too, but I honestly think he's just stressed and going through a rough time right now, I don't think it's something to worry about on the long run… hopefully," she nudged him.

She would have liked to believe her words a bit more, but she couldn't erase the feeling that this was only starting and about to get even more messed up.

Usopp didn't seem all that convinced either, but he didn't press the subject any further.

"I don't think he is fully aware of how much he owes you."

Nami looked back at him and gave him a wicked smirk. "Oh, he does. I remind him every day, it's not like he's going to get away with not paying back his debts."

And they both knew Usopp hadn't really been talking about money, but they both let it slide and went back inside to where the party was being thrown, full-on intending to enjoy the rest of their night Strawhats' style.

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Brace yourselves, because you're about to hear something unprecedented: that was the first time in his life Zoro _**didn't**_ get lost on his way back home. It was the first time Zoro didn't get lost in general, period.

He was, at the very least, surprised when he found himself at the hotel doors, not really able to recall how he'd gotten there. If he'd had some sense of direction and the mental ability to remember what he had just done, he would've known he had taken all the right streets and turns, getting there in record time and not missing a single turn or intersection. But he couldn't remember nor had there been anyone there to witness it, so no one would ever believe him when he tried to tell them that he had gotten to the hotel on his own; history would never remember such a unique fact and so no one would ever acknowledge that he had once in his life gotten his path right.

Such a shame, really.

He refused to believe it had anything to do with the fact that he was wasted, which was as much a unique situation as him getting his destination right (and so the only change in his routine that could explain such an extraordinary thing happening), so he mentally praised himself for the success and thanked whatever there was to thank that the streets of Terevera hadn't changed positions yet again (yes, he was seriously considering a global conspiracy against his person in which everything around him moved for the only purpose of getting him lost).

Not that he had much time to celebrate, though. On his way back to the hotel, his anxiety had somehow managed to increase as his hyperactive brain started considering everything he had done wrong tonight while he tried not to smash his face against walls every time he lost his balance (which was every two or three steps).

Things were less wobbly by now since he had been walking for a while and breathing fresh air, but his brain was still far from put together. How the fuck had he managed to lose _all_ of his self-control in such a short time-span? He didn't remember half the things he had blurted out, but he was pretty sure he had made a fool of himself, plus, he had managed to drive away his only source of release that night, which had him wanting to punch a wall. His skin was crawling and all he could do not to flip shit was to clench his jaw and curse out loud, earning weird looks from the people he walked by.

He hated being drunk: it had turned him into a mess and each one of his frustrations seemed to be hitting him tenfold, making him itch for something, _whatever_, that could make it better.

He must've said something pretty indecent right then, because a woman turned around to watch him with a bewildered expression, but Zoro couldn't for the life of him process what he had just blurted out nor did he remember opening his mouth. At that point, he deemed it wise to go the fuck back to his room and keep himself away from humanity until the worst had passed.

And he honestly didn't remember how he got to his room either, but next thing he knew he was bursting through the door with a groan, forgetting for a second that the cause of his misery was right there. When it hit him, his eye snapped to where a sleepy Sanji was turning around in bed with a confused expression, hair disheveled and eyes squinted, and his stomach dropped to his feet at the sight, stupid nervousness hitting him in the face the second he laid eyes on him.

There went the insufferable itch, making him wish there was a physical way to scratch it away from his body.

"Are you okay?"

He almost jumped a foot in the air when Robin's voice caught his attention, forcing him to notice her sitting on a chair by the end of Sanji's bed. Shit, he had totally forgotten she would also be there. He sealed his lips in a painful lock the moment he felt them part, keeping anything that was about to go through them inside, just in case. He had embarrassed himself enough for tonight.

"Zoro?"

"Leave me alone," he groaned, quickly making his way to the bathroom in what felt like pretty evident swaying.

He didn't take notice of Robin's surprised gaze following him, and he had already forgotten about Sanji staring at him from his bed, forcing himself to close the bathroom door behind him and find purchase against the sink, exhaling for good measure.

Now that he had stopped moving, the lightheadedness got worse as the floor started moving under his feet, forcing him to grip the sink harder, his eye fixed on his own reflection in the mirror. His face wasn't all that different from how it usually was, but the though hit him that he looked like shit. The one notable difference he didn't really register was the fact that he wasn't scowling. The usual expression had left his features for them to bathe in confusion and slight vulnerability, but mostly helpless frustration.

Zoro growled and started aggressively splashing water against his face, trying to force the dizziness to go away. If that was what being drunk felt like, he didn't want to be drunk ever again. It wouldn't have been that bad (it would've almost been as funny as it was disconcerting) if his brain hadn't twisted his thoughts against himself. If he hadn't been already on edge and the alcohol hadn't happened to test him further, it would've almost been an interesting experience, but his brain couldn't handle it right now. It just turned everything more extreme than it probably was, his restlessness turning into anxiety.

He wondered why people would hate themselves so much as to willingly put themselves into this kind of state of inner turmoil and overboard emotions and actions. He didn't like it. He had never liked losing control and he had none left in his hands at the moment.

While he was concentrated on murmuring at the floor tiles to stay the fuck still under his feet and also hating life, he didn't register the bathroom door being carefully open nor the presence behind him. That until he lifted his face to angrily stare at himself in the mirror and maybe start some rant about how he should pull his shit together once and for all and instead saw Sanji's reflection leaning against the door frame and watching him with a weird look shadowing his eyes.

Which made him jerk up in surprise, almost letting out a very unmanly screech that he managed to keep down his throat by pure luck.

He didn't turn around. He was too occupied trying to calm his violently churning stomach down as he stared at Sanji through the mirror, eye wide open and knuckles white against the sink.

Sanji didn't comment on how he had quite obviously freaked out just now, he just observed his reflection for a while. Zoro couldn't read him at all. Not with how everything around him seemed unstable and about to spin.

"Robin just left."

Sanji's voice sounded slightly weird to Zoro's ears, and he couldn't quite pinpoint if it was because he was drunk and processing things like shit or because Sanji's tone came out as tired. Maybe both.

There was a long pause between Sanji's comment and the moment Zoro responded, the greenhead's brain derailing the whole process as it first registered the words, understood them, thought about what to answer and formulated his own sentence. All the while his train of thought would halt here and there as his eye lingered on Sanji's reflection for too long. Sanji didn't seem to have the need to rush him, rather than that, he just seemed to be analyzing him.

"Why are you telling me this?" he found himself murmuring, half surprised that his words had come out as understandable.

Sanji shrugged, quite lazily so, and Zoro's skin broke in goosebumps. Was it only him and his unhelpful brain imagining things, or was Sanji acting in that kind of deliberately slow and lazy manner that gets one feeling as if he's about to be jumped at? Whatever it was, there was something about Sanji's attitude that had his itch intensifying by the second.

"What's wrong?" asked the blonde.

No, it wasn't that much the whole dragged sluggishness of their interactions that was most definitely setting a heavy atmosphere around them as it was the way they were staring at each other. There was something about Sanji's gaze that weighted in Zoro's stomach like a rock: the blonde was trying to figure him out, but there was also the lingering feeling of caution and weariness adding to that. Something Zoro couldn't possibly find the words to describe given his state, but he could most definitely feel it as restrainedly raw.

Was it only him and his fucked up brain cells playing games on his sanity or were there a lot of unspoken words in the air? Because, to him, it somehow felt like there was a completely different conversation going on there, one they weren't voicing out loud, one that had nothing to do with Robin leaving or what was wrong.

The itch was present and sharp enough right now as for him not to be able to ignore it. The twisting in his stomach seemed to have resorted to a heavy knot he couldn't untangle, and something in his chest was starting to make it hard to breathe. Maybe it was all of his needs and urges trying to break through the walls of self-restraint he had been imposing on himself.

Sanji leveled him with a hard stare. "Zoro, I am talking to you," he coldly grunted. "What's wrong?"

And, as it happens when people get drunk, Zoro didn't know _why_ that particular question (which had already been asked before without triggering such reaction out of him) made him snap, but it did, and it was sudden and painfully clear the moment a snarl tinted his features. The words he had been about to blurt were 'you are what's wrong'.

What he said instead, only barely able to filter his thoughts in a whole different way at the last second, was "I fucking hate you."

And, really, he did. Everything was that bastard's fault. Sanji looked all collected while Zoro was a fucking mess, and the fault was all his for harvesting a fucking obsession in Zoro's brain, for making him have to face new sides of himself he had never even know existed. He was blaming everything on the alcohol, but it's not like he could keep fooling himself indefinitely: Zoro had long lost the control he still pretended to hold in his hands, no need for alcohol or shitty drinks to be in the picture, and he was beginning to believe he had known it all along.

Sanji didn't look surprised. He kept staring at him with that heavy gaze that had everything inside of Zoro wreaking havoc, probably oblivious to what he was putting Zoro through. Which only caused Zoro's temper to boil even more.

"I fucking hate you," he repeated, his tone cutting and aggressive. He finally turned around to face Sanji, looking menacing.

The moment he locked eyes with Sanji's blue ones, his mask shattered and all of his hostility became tinted with frustrated helplessness. _That_ got a reaction out of Sanji, who suddenly looked as shocked as he had ever been, something in Zoro's expression managing to break his collected exterior.

Zoro didn't give a fuck.

"I hate you so much," he snarled.

Next thing he knew he was stomping towards Sanji, who took a small step back out of reflex, but that's as far as he went before Zoro's calloused hands harshly grabbed the sides of his face and hot lips crashed against his, knocking the breath out of him and driving his mind to a halt as his stomach dropped right when Zoro's did.

There went Zoro's last bit of self-restraint.

**TBC**

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**A/N: **sorry about the late update, it's been really busy lately! This was a long one, I really hope you enjoyed it! Again, thank you for all your lovely reviews and for everyone who keeps on subscribing and supporting this story; it makes me incredibly happy and willing to continue writing! Have a great week, everyone!

(Also, writing drunk Zoro was a bit of a challenge since it's new territory, but I had fun doing it, it gave me the chance to pull at the character towards where I needed to a bit more. I hope it still remained believable, I still tried to mantain a feasible OOC, something that I could picture Zoro actually doing or thinking had he ever been drunk... I hope I kind of achieved that, let's see how you find it)


	35. Chapter 35 - Listen

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**Chapter 35**

**Listen**

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The very first time he had kissed Sanji had been back in The Rock.

Back then, just like now, he hadn't been exactly aware of what was going on as much as he was just burning along with it without bringing himself to give a damn, but, amidst the chaos taking over him, he distinctly remembered that Sanji had tasted of cigarettes and spices, which was ironic given the fact that they had been starving, but he guessed Sanji must have kept adding his precious spices to any scratch of food he managed to put together for his crew, always keeping an eye for detail no matter how little he was being forced to feed them; such a Sanji thing to do.

The thought had hit him that it was exactly how Sanji was supposed to taste like; that was somehow unquestionable in Zoro's mind.

At that moment he could only taste the smoky twinge of cigarettes.

Zoro didn't mind it: it definitely screamed Sanji's name and he could hardly picture him smelling or tasting like anything else, but he felt himself missing the spices. It reminded him of the fact that Sanji hadn't cooked for a long time, of the fact that the blonde was yet to get well enough as to do so.

But he didn't mind the lack of familiarity, not when his whole being seemed intent on kissing the soul out of Sanji; not when his lips were trembling against the blonde's in an outburst of need he had long lost control over.

Sanji was clearly taken aback if his sudden tense frame and his lack of response was anything to go by, but Zoro didn't give a damn. He was furious and he needed Sanji to take it away like he always did, who cares if the process to his drainage was drastically out of their books for one night?

Zoro pressed harder into the kiss, forcing Sanji's lips open until the other's surprise made it easy enough for him to break through the resistance and slip his tongue inside his mouth, the intensity of the kiss making him inhale hard against Sanji, almost stealing the breath away from the blonde in the process.

Sanji's tense stance seemed to relax a tad before it went rock hard again. If Zoro could taste cigarettes, Sanji could unmistakably taste alcohol.

Zoro was too far gone in his own desperation to get rid of the unbearable itch he had been dying to scratch all night as to take Sanji's stiffness as a warning, so he was most definitely not expecting it when Sanji harshly broke the kiss and shoved him back hard enough for their bodies to stand a few feet away from each other's.

Zoro swore he'd break something. Like, seriously flip shit and trash the whole place. He wasn't sure he could get any more frustrated than he was; there had come a point where he didn't even care how much he was embarrassing himself as long as he got what he needed. He wasn't exactly sure _why_ he felt like he was about to explode when he was normally a collected and laid back man, especially when it came to _these kind_ of physical issues, but he had never felt a need as intense as this in his life and the fact that he was pretty much wasted wasn't helping his case.

He didn't register Sanji's eyes following his figure with an unbelieving gaze only to confirm what the blonde thought wasn't possible the moment Zoro tripped right after being pushed, barely regaining balance when his butt hit the sink, where he braced against for good measure. That's why the swordsman didn't really think twice before launching again towards him, only to be stopped by a firm hand against his chest and a glare so deep Zoro was amazed he hadn't caught fire yet.

"Are you drunk?"

The question sounded absurd enough as for Zoro to want to boisterously laugh in Sanji's face because, come on, never in his life had he gotten drunk before, but his current state wouldn't exactly help him ground his defense, so he wisely chose to shut up for good, keep the distance right where Sanji had set it, and stare at him in slight apprehension, the glint of thirst never really leaving his gaze, just in case Sanji hadn't yet caught the message that he didn't have the patience to mess around.

"Zoro," Sanji grunted, his hand pressing harder against his chest the moment the swordsman tentatively tried to take a step forward. "Are you drunk?" he repeated, tougher this time.

Zoro wanted to huff and yell at the ceiling, but he barely sent a weary glare at him, low-key proud of himself for keeping his cool for a second. "What the fuck does it matter?"

Zoro took another step forward, but Sanji pushed him back a bit, wide and incredulous eyes clawed on his. If this wasn't a first…

"What the fuck did you even drink?"

"What about you drop the crap, cook?!" Zoro barked, ignoring the clear signs Sanji was sending his way that he didn't want him anywhere near him while that conversation was still going.

Because Zoro could read between the lines, drunk or not, and if Sanji's body was pushing him away, his eyes spoke a different language. He had seen how he had stared at him just a few seconds before, he could see it now. Sober Zoro might have doubted his gut a bit more, but Zoro was nowhere near sober and he couldn't bring himself to try to paint reality differently than he perceived it. There was raw need and want behind Sanji's pupils as well, just that Sanji had a brain behind them to tone things down and think twice, which Zoro currently didn't have.

"I'm not doing this with you being drunk!" Sanji barked back, his patience being consumed in half a second, as it would usually happen when dealing with the blonde. He'd keep it cool until something Zoro couldn't quite pinpoint would unchain his well-known terrible temper, the trigger normally being something Zoro did or said.

Zoro blinked at him, frustration hitting his throat and turning it into a lump of barely held-there self-restraint.

"So you _want_ to," he carefully stated, his eye predatorily fixed on Sanji, only barely being able to hold himself right there and humor the argument. It's not like he was going to force Sanji to do anything, no matter how much his inebriated brain may be pushing him to do so, so his only tangible chance was to break Sanji's walls one by one by playing Sanji's own game: that of persuasion. Or rather downright aggressive insistence in Zoro's case, given the fact that he didn't pack the subtlety to be persuasive for saving his life.

"I never said such thing."

"You don't say _a lot_ of things, doesn't mean you don't want them," Zoro resolutely growled back, scowl in place as he took a step forward. Someone should make him a monument or something for not embedding Sanji against the wall right there and then.

The urgency in Zoro's voice must have been quite apparent with how Sanji's stomach dropped at his words, his feet taking him a step back the moment Zoro moved.

If Zoro was about to break under frustration, which he could clearly see, Sanji wasn't much better.

That morning had left him with a hard on and the permanent feeling of something twisting in his stomach while his brain had taken a liking to the mantra 'this is going to fuck things up, keep it in your pants'. He _knew_ what they had agreed on. And he knew that the unsustainable situation they had been stuck in for over a week, in which every single fizz between them had been building up like a ticking bomb without any real outlet for them to use, was the exact kind of scenario their deal was meant to be used for. Didn't they say something about being… 'each other's stress relievers'? Yes, he was pretty sure they _had_ said that. And it's not like Sanji was in angsty denial: he was perfectly aware of the fact that their deal wasn't completely unreasonable if taken with a cool head. Back when they had come to an agreement it had sounded good, great even, given the fact that they had just jerked each other off and successfully eradicated all stress through that. It definitely sounded good _now_, after he had spent all day long bathing in a pool of almost unbearable pent-up tension since fighting was out of the picture as an outlet.

That's _exactly_ what they were meant to use their agreement for, Sanji _knew_ that, yet it was easier said than done. When being completely drained of stress _or_ when being about to burst, he was rather at peace with his choices given how they had either granted him the release he wanted or were about to do so, but all the way in between those two emotional states, Sanji's brain kept butting in and adding 'buts' to the pact. Not that he was chickening out of it, but Sanji was, and had been all along, all too aware of what that settlement could lead them to. It was as convenient as it was dangerous: that morning had not only triggered the need to make use of the deal, it had also made it crystal clear that it could easily slip from their control. Sanji wasn't an idiot: the moment they had realized that Sanji's condition wouldn't let them fight it out as they normally would, the tension had reached a breaking point and Zoro had been about to lose it and kiss him, and so chase release in the only other way he knew how to, right there, _in front of Nami_. Hadn't Sanji had the awareness of everything else in the picture, the swordsman might just have gone ahead and done it.

And it's not like Sanji was assuming anything out of that rather uncontrolled behavior, far from it. He knew how they worked and so he knew and _understood_ where Zoro's behavior a few hours ago had come from, the pattern being the exact same they'd follow when fighting.

When they needed release they would just jump at each other and fight; it was pretty much an automatic routine.

Sanji could almost dissect the process in a commercial-like way:

Feeling stressed? Here are some steps that will help your case!

Find Zoro.

Get in his face. That always does the trick in riling him up.

Annoy the shit out of him.

Either wait for his first blow or kick him in the face, depending on how much patience you have left.

Fight it out.

Have a chill day.

That's pretty much how it had always worked. That's how they _knew_ how to work; it was simple, straightforward and natural.

That's why they didn't think twice before throwing a fit, that's why they didn't give a damn about who was watching or what they were thinking about them, neither did they care what they broke; they just went with it without thinking ('without thinking' being key here) and that was pretty much it.

At some point, and he honestly couldn't wrap his mind around how the hell that had even happened, they had found their usual outlet transitioning to something other than fights. Or more like fights transitioning to something else. Back in The Rock they had been about to kill each other in a fit of rage and, the moment Zoro had managed to break Sanji down, their way to channel the desperate burn that had taken over them had been through angry kissing. From then on, that kind of outbursts had started to be leveled up to their usual fighting. They had only made out a few times but that was only because they had suppressed the angry urge to do so more times than he could count. Fighting hadn't been an option lately, and their next best choice, especially now that it was somehow normalized under an agreement, was channeling it through sexual release, which had proved to be just as good as their staple.

And it's not like they had consciously made it work that way, but the pattern they had naturally followed when those kind of encounters took place was awfully _similar_ to the one they fell in when fighting. It came out naturally because it was born out of instinct and need, and the only way they knew how to deal with it was unconsciously bringing it to known territory. Zoro planting an aggressive kiss on his lips out of nowhere was not different from Zoro drawing the three of his swords and coming straight at him with killing intent. The pattern wasn't new, they knew it all too well, it's just that it was framed in a different mold, a much more controversial one.

And, if the pattern was the same, their behavior was no different; that was the major flaw in unconsciously getting both situations mixed. They didn't think when they fought, they just let thirst take them and went with the flow. And that was exactly what Sanji meant by 'not thinking' being key there. If they didn't think when they fought, neither did they put their brains to use when control slipped out of their hands and lust took over them.

So, no, Zoro's behavior that morning hadn't been as surprising as it had been alarming. Sanji could've pretended to be disconcerted at Zoro's attitude and _almost_-slip, but that would've been stupid, since it clearly fit the frame they usually moved in, nothing new in the way the pattern drew itself. It was only natural that, when caught in the moment, they would fall back to their stress-relieving patterns without thinking, never mind the fact that they weren't actually on the fighting spectrum of their ordinary interactions but the next best thing, that is, lust driven exchanges; there was no point in trying to deny that as a risk.

But the risk being confirmed as a _very_ present potential fuck-up had hit him in the face the moment he had realized what was about to (maybe) happen with Nami _in_ the room, and the thought had been shitting with him all day long.

Sure, they were both adults and free to do whatever the hell they wanted with their spare time and to each other, but their freedom ended when the rest of the crew got involved. Sanji was completely aware of what their deal could bring to not only them but also the whole crew, of how it could either make things easier or complicate them (given the fact that it was Sanji and Zoro involved, it would probably randomly range from one to the other every blink of an eye, getting to the extremes of the best and the worst, the worst being really _bad_), and there was the risk of that affecting the crew's stability, which Sanji had already decided couldn't happen. Whatever they chose to do, the crew had to stay out of harm's way, period. The moment _that_ was put in danger, Sanji would be the first one to take a step back and call it a day.

And, really, the crew finding out wasn't necessarily the _worst _case scenario or a reason to put an end to an otherwise reasonable and attractive agreement: it's not like Sanji actually believed his nakama would think any different of them if they ever knew, it's not like he feared their reactions. Luffy wouldn't even understand what was going on; his biggest fear would be Nami trying to get under Zoro's skin and using Sanji as a weapon against his pride (not that he really thought such an angel would so something like that, of course).

But, still, if he had a saying in it (and he most definitely did), he didn't want _anyone_ to know. _Ever_. It was definitely a matter of pride, but it was also a matter of him coming to terms with the fact that he was fooling around with a man, that he was fooling around with _Zoro_, what the fuck, and that he didn't seem to mind it all that much as long as nobody other than himself questioned it out loud. He had always thought he'd be deadly repulsed by kissing or touching another man, not because he was homophobe whatsoever since he couldn't care less what people did with their sexual lives, but because he just had never had it in him to find a man attractive or appealing _at all_, much less after being stalked and chased by a horde of okamas for about two years. Until now, apparently. The fact that Zoro was a man kept putting him off every now and then as he _really_ gave it some thought and inevitably ended up asking himself the star question of his life: _what the fuck_.

However, Zoro seemed to be part of a category of his own rather than being labeled as 'man' or 'woman' in Sanji's head. No matter how hard he thought about it, a man's dick would never get him to feel anything but the need to scrunch his nose in distaste. Yet, whenever he was caught up in the moment with Zoro, he'd forget about that: if he had to take into account the fact that he had had some of the most stimulating make out sessions in his life with the idiot, it would be safe to say that he hadn't thought about it _at all_ while they were at it.

_But still_. He wasn't ready for anyone to know he was engaging in these kind of activities with a man, much less his beautiful ladies. He was still a ladies man, he still pictured himself with a lovely wife and a horde of children at the end of the adventure, if he ever had the actual opportunity to have something as precious as that. As much as he tried, he couldn't see himself with a man, and he knew his deal with Zoro was as temporary as their apparently endless (for now) thirst would be. It was something with an expiry date, and it was something no one needed to know.

That's why moments like that morning were like fire to Sanji: they made him want to let go, pretend their deal had never happened.

They couldn't _really_ do whatever they pleased. If Sanji wanted to keep his discretion and reputation (whatever he thought his reputation amounted to), he couldn't just 'stop thinking and go with the flow', because that was bound to take them to places he didn't want to end up in, one of them being their nakama getting somehow involved in their mess. The least they knew, the better. If the agreement backfired it would be easier to deal with it on their own than if it had already stained the rest of the crew.

If Nami hadn't been there that morning, Sanji doubted he would've denied the kiss he knew had been about to come his way. Hadn't Nami been there, the tension would have already evaporated and they wouldn't be standing in front of each other playing the mouse and cat game right now.

But here they were.

Sanji had had time to think, empowering his brain with the authority to keep his needs and body in check, keeping himself from 'not thinking' and instead treating their situation as it should be treated if they didn't want it to bite them in the ass: with caution and a good dose of reason trying to compensate the animalistic impulses kicking their guts more often than not.

Plus, Zoro was drunk. Not as drunk as not to know what he was doing; Sanji wasn't going to fool himself into thinking that just to use it as a heavier excuse out of his current predicament, but he was stepping on thin ground and he couldn't afford any misstep.

Had it been anyone else, he probably wouldn't have cared. He had learned to keep sex detached from consequences. Living the kind of life he lived, he knew he wouldn't find love at the next stop, as much as he knew he couldn't let himself find it. No relationship was meant to last beyond the time the log pose gave them, and so he kept it nice and simple: fun nights and great sex. He'd be a gentleman, he'd treat them like princesses and make them feel special until dawn but, after that, it was over. His life had become so much easier when he had accepted it as it was.

If it had been anyone else, there would have been no consequences considered. He'd just do his business when he felt like it and move on with his life after that.

But it wasn't anyone else. It was _Zoro_. And Zoro was his nakama, who he'd have to see every single day of his life as long as he stayed in that crew, which he wasn't planning on leaving any time soon. He was already breaking about a thousand rules by having agreed to play that betting game with him, the first one being: don't mess with the nakamaship bond, which he was currently gambling with.

And that wasn't the only reason. The amount of respect he held for Zoro couldn't begin to be measured, and he just couldn't risk fucking things up by listening to his dick and not his brain.

They were both adults with a mind of their own so, if Zoro wanted it, Sanji wasn't going to play martyr and keep his hands to himself, he wasn't _that_ good. But, with Zoro being drunk, he wasn't quite sure of where Zoro's consent stood, even with the other practically stripping him out of his clothes with his gaze, the clear intention to do unholy things to his body for the next few hours very present behind his steel pupil.

Which had Sanji's pants getting tighter, really, but he could never be sure enough, so here he was, not knowing what came next in a pattern he _used to_ be familiar with.

Their deal was great, really. It's just that there was too much gambling involved, and what was being gambled with was too high-valued as to not doubt if it was worth it.

Lost in his musings, he was distracted enough as to not foresee Zoro's fast foot-work when he got rid of Sanji's still raised hands and managed to get into his personal space, holding his jaw with a strong open palm and planting a wet kiss right where jaw and ear meet, earning a shocked gasp from Sanji.

And a harsh shove.

Zoro went with it as opposed to against it, much to Sanji's surprise, letting him regain some space for breathing. Just that Zoro was now determinedly and rather defiantly glaring at Sanji, almost as if he had just made a point Sanji wasn't too aware of.

Sanji led his hand against his neck with a hiss, suppressing a violent shiver as he tried to pull himself together with an angry scowl. If his pants had tightened a bit more no one needed to know. Especially _not_ Zoro.

"Okay, enough is enough," he growled. "I am fucking tired and you are drunk, and we are _not_ doing this. Keep it in your shitty pants, it's passed your bed time."

Sanji made it to turn away and leave before Zoro got the chance to push things further, not like he could flee too far since they shared the same room, but the perspective of a wider space than the one the bathroom offered sounded much better than staying there, where he could barely maneuver Zoro off him. He hadn't yet given his back to the greenhead when strong hands forced him to turn around, grabbing him by his shoulders. Next thing he knew he was being flashed with a sharp injection of pain somewhere in between his neck and shoulder as Zoro bit _harshly_ into his flesh.

He heavily flinched and gasped, but the moment his hand went to Zoro's shoulder in order to push him away, it grew a brain of his own and got a vice-like hold of it instead, to the point where it was surely painful for the swordsman. Sanji's gasp was fast turned into a deep groan he couldn't restrain for saving his life. Sanji couldn't possibly explain why that sudden attack had something violently coiling in his stomach and blood rushing south, but he barely had the mind to figure it out as he aggressively pressed his cheek flush against Zoro's neck in an attempt to counter the pain that was suddenly feeling too hot for a bite and pull himself together a bit.

This _shouldn't_ be turning him on.

But his hand was gripping Zoro's shoulder like his life depended on it and his other hand had gotten a hold of his nape, unable to decide if he wanted him closer or far away, all the while pressing his face against his neck for purchase, because he wasn't sure of how stable he'd be standing on his own at that point.

"Shit, Zoro, that hurt," he groaned as he let a shaky breath escape his lips, eyes scrunched shut and brain barely cooperating with him in the sanity's department.

Which Zoro didn't help either as he started running his tongue over the mark (if not wound), wetly lapping at it and placing open-mouthed kisses where he knew he may have scratched flesh, causing Sanji to sharply inhale against his shoulder and hiss, because the way Zoro was latching at his neck was way too intense to be simple teasing, and he swore he was beginning to melt at the same time his stomach seemed to be combusting with badly controlled need.

Just that, the moment he inhaled, something ticked him off as his sealed eyes snapped open, and he felt something boil in his organism other than intense lust. Name it intense anger.

Zoro growled when Sanji pushed him away without much effort this time around. He was about to protest like the angry adult he was when his clouded eye landed on Sanji's expression, which positively shut him up like a slap in the face, his inebriated brain freaking out the moment it registered that something was wrong other than Sanji's stupid stubbornness.

"What now?" he huffed nonetheless, his irritation earning ground over caution or apprehensiveness, because, really, he was beginning to feel grumpy as fuck.

"Care to explain why you smell of perfume?" Sanji shot, venomous tone effectively freezing Zoro and erasing all traces of anger only to have it finally and completely replaced by dread and a drama-queen worthy freak-out session in the privacy of his head. Oh, shit.

"It's not what you think," he was fast to start babbling, the urge to somehow fix his fuck-up no matter what taking over him. Just that that was probably the worst kind of answer someone can give in these kind of situations. _Oh, shit._

Sanji fixed him with a heated glare that began to turn into an 'I'm done with your shit' expression faster than Zoro would have liked. Then it turned into something else, but Zoro's judgement was too clouded with alcohol and the steam of his fried nerves as to pinpoint what it was; the only thing he was positive of is that it was _not_ good. Oh, shit.

"I am going to sleep," Sanji coldly stated. "Get rid of that boner however the hell you want to, but don't you dare drag me into this." And if Zoro hadn't been able to tell what Sanji's expression meant, he could definitely feel the coldness in his tone now, he could definitely feel the restrained rage wavering under it. _Oh, shit._

"Okay, no, _wait_, you need to listen, this isn't-"

The moment he saw Sanji turn around to leave, Zoro's stomach dropped as he grimaced and jumped behind him, rushing to stop him in his tracks with a rather clumsy choice of movements that ended up spinning Sanji around too harshly and causing the blonde to hit his head against the wall, earning a pained groan from someone who was already injured and only starting to do well in his recovery. _Oh, shit._

"Fuck, I'm _so_ sorry, I didn't- oh, shit, are you okay or-?"

Sanji glared hard at him and Zoro's already messed up words got stuck in his throat as he realized he was doing _everything_ wrong and as lamely as it could be done. Sanji didn't even bother to answer as he shoved him back and left the room, leaving Zoro to gap at the door Sanji had just banged shut, his brain starting to form curse words of utmost originality and self-loathing that he ended up yapping out loud with his hands tangled in his hair, whishing that the floor would stop moving under his feet at least so that he could have some actual stability of mind to come up with something other than bullshit. For fuck's sake, he was doing a great job at cockblocking himself! He slapped his own face a few times, hard, hating on life and his own person and his awful luck. He was too drunk for this shit, he should've listened to Chopper. What the fuck was he even doing? He swore he was going to burst and start yelling bloody hell at the ceiling at this rate. Oh, shit.

"_No, no, no, no, no, no, no,_" he kept mumbling like a mantra, his voice growing high-pitched in stress with every new 'no' he uttered. Why was he such an idiot?

He didn't quite register it when he viciously started splashing water all over his neck and shoulders, drenching his shirt and making a mess in the otherwise neat bathroom. An outsider would have wondered if Zoro may have intended to make a replica of the ocean he missed so much in the reduced space he had chosen as his freak-out refuge; but, other than that, the only plausible conclusion would have been that Zoro was drunk out of his wits and thoroughly going through a distressing rethinking-horrible-life-choices phase which he wasn't handling too well, by the looks of it.

Why he was freaking out _like that_ was beyond his or anyone's understanding, but alcohol tends to mess things up tenfold in one's brain, and Zoro was currently going through distressful times of utmost gravity, since his main goal right now (read being laid or at least scratch that goddamn itch) had been frustrated beyond repair. Add the fact that Sanji's expression had just made something similar to sharp regret and guilt snap in his chest, and you had a hysterical Zoro ready to flip shit.

Damn, he needed to get this right.

He glared at himself in the mirror, completely soaked and looking like a lunatic who just got out of a mad house. Only the thought that he had probably managed to get rid of any traces of perfume reassured him of the fact that he might have a better chance of getting Sanji to listen to him this time around, which he had his hopes set on.

That's why his spirits fell underground when he stomped out of the bathroom with his hands raised in a defensive pose and found Sanji in bed staring at him as if he had gone crazy, which was a pretty justifiable reaction to show, in all honesty.

"The fuck are you doing?" he groaned with his eyes wide open as his gaze flickered from Zoro's drenched upper body to the stains he was beginning to leave on the carpet as water drops started pooling at the swordsman's feet.

"Look, I need you to listen, okay?" Zoro insisted, taking a few steps forward with a wary stance. Sanji looked like he was about to repeatedly kick him in the face and Zoro wasn't in the mood for that. "I got rid of the smell!" he was fast to defend when Sanji opened his mouth; not that Zoro knew what he had been about to say but it's not like he cared as long as he got the chance to defend his case. "I swear it's gone!"

"What the fuck do I care?"

Zoro frowned at him and took a tentative step closer, Sanji automatically sitting up in bed, just in case he was about to be jumped at again.

"Okay, look, listen- no, _no_, _shut up_ for a moment, will you? Just- just listen, yeah?"

Sanji would never fail to be taken aback by Zoro's rare gibberish state, he swore. How he went from a man of few and precise words to a babbling mess who couldn't build a straight sentence for saving his life escaped all reasoning he could come up with, and it definitely fried his nerves given how out of character it was. If he wasn't so thoroughly pissed off he would have probably found it funny and worth laughing at. Because, really, Zoro making a fool of himself would never get old, and Zoro making a fool of himself _while drunk_ was pure gold. But, then again, Sanji was feeling too enraged and confused out of his mind as to have the mind to take advantage of it. What the fuck was Zoro doing? And why the fuck was he even wasting his time to listen to his bullshit?

"What about you drop it, do your dignity a favour, go to sleep and leave me alone?"

"_No, nonononono!_ Listen, I need you to _listen_!" Zoro bewilderedly yelled, his voice tight with stress.

"Listen to what?"

"I, uhm… Okay, I get you are angry but let me explain, it's not what you think. Just, let me- _yeah_. Uhm, I kind of…" Zoro proceeded to keep on making a fool of himself, much to his despair and utter lack of ability to stop, as he tried to look for a softer way to deliver the information but came up with none. "I kind of kissed a woman back in the party. Uhm, yeah, that's… that's where the perfume comes from, _pleasedon'tbemad_."

Zoro sounding like an actual five-year-old would have been funny in any other context, but that's the last thing Sanji thought of the situation at the moment.

"You _kind of_ kissed a woman?"

Zoro's rant of bullshit became automatically invalidated by Sanji's tone. Zoro felt a shiver run down his spine as he actually felt the threat and cutting coldness of Sanji's voice. His expression wasn't _that _menacing, it was more of a stop-giving-me-bullshit-you're-lame glare, but Zoro could still read between the lines and he knew he was walking on thin ice. Sanji was pissed off beyond belief, but there was something else behind his façade and Zoro was beginning to feel anxious about it. Which led him to the conclusion that he wasn't going to get away with bullshitting his way out of this one.

"Okay, I most definitely did kiss a woman," he grunted, almost as if he was raising a question, slightly scared (not that he'd admit it) of what the reaction would be. It still was a mild way to put it. Sure he had kissed her, but there had also been groping and the intention to take things way further. Not that Sanji needed to know that much, not if Zoro still held hope that he might get away with placating him and getting what he wanted in the end (yes, his brain's focus was _this_ limited at the moment, it's not like he had much scope for thinking other than to come up with ways to scratch the itch).

He wasn't exactly surprised when Sanji's expression turned into a vicious snarl, but he was disappointed anyway when the blonde spoke next, his tone glacial and cutting like Zoro's blades, which made him flinch.

"Go to sleep."

Which was a really nice way of telling him to fuck off. Because either Sanji forced himself to have the self-restraint of a monk right now or he'd flip to the opposite extreme and deal with Zoro by kicking him in the face and doing some real harm; there was no in between with how infuriated Sanji was at the moment.

"Okay, no, wait-"

And, really, Zoro should have kept his mouth shut, because Sanji had been one strand away from losing his patience and that's all it took for him to snap and jump out of bed, adopting a defensive stance so that Zoro wouldn't even think of taking a single more step towards him.

Zoro's stomach churned and he was fast to stop in his tracks and raise his hands in the air.

"Okay. Okay…" he tried to placate him, voice wary. "But, like, can you listen at least?"

"Can you _stop_?!"

Zoro wasn't expecting Sanji to yell at him like that. Sure the blonde had the patience of a brick, but that had sounded pretty _strained_ even for him. That until Zoro's eyes travelled south and noticed a slight semi in Sanji's pajama pants, the pieces of the puzzle slowly sinking in.

Sanji was _furious_. Zoro had come in there, jumping at him right after fucking someone else, and Sanji was all but okay with that. Here he was, having to deal with the pent-up tension he had been bottling up all day, still being half aroused because of his encounter with Zoro and yet being forced to bottle it up again because the swordsman had been selfish enough as to put them in that shitty situation. No, he _wasn't_ okay. _That_ wasn't okay. This wasn't what their deal was meant to be used for and the lack of respect Zoro was showing towards him was, at the very least, offending. If there was a _high_ dose of disappointment meddling with Sanji's dark emotions at the moment, no one needed to know.

Zoro was blinking at him with a confused expression, clearly not understanding his outburst as much as Sanji was being consumed by it.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?!" he continued, Zoro's obliviousness making him all the angrier. "Do you think you can go, fuck some random stranger and come back here expecting me to comply with your selfishness?"

Now Zoro was completely lost. "Who said shit about fucking? I didn't fuck her, I _kissed_ her!" he defended.

Sanji shut up for a second, staring him down only to glare harder. In that short time, he managed to compose himself a bit and control his voice, the calmness of it only making it sound deadlier.

"Okay, so let me get this straight. A girl rejects you, leaving you horny as fuck, and best idea you come up with is to come back here so that I can finish the fucking job? Is that what I am? Your second option after being cockblocked?"

"_No_! No, for fuck's sake, _no_!" Zoro tightly exclaimed, hands thrown in the air in disbelief. How could Sanji be so dense? Not that Zoro was being a helpful genius in the eloquence department, so it's not like he was making it easy for Sanji not to explode the way he was currently doing.

"I'm done with your bullshit," Sanji sighed, shaking his head and alarmingly making his way towards the door.

What the fuck was he doing?! Zoro was faster than him and stopped him in his tracks, forcing him to look back at him and not letting go when Sanji tried to snatch his arm away from the greenhead's grasp.

"No, no, come on, stop it!" he groaned, starting to lose his patience as well. He was way too frustrated and on edge to deal with this.

"What about _you_ stop it?! Can't you leave me the fuck alone already?! You are drunk, go to bed!"

"What the fuck! This is not about me being drunk, this is about _you_ being fucking _jealous_!"

There. He had gone and said it. Zoro's mouth clacked shut as he stood there, only barely keeping a hold on Sanji's arm and staring wide eyed at the blonde, suddenly realizing the meaning of what he had just blurted. Sanji wore the most outraged and irked expression he had ever seen him wearing. There was a few seconds of deafening silence in which Zoro genuinely feared for his life, already seeing the kick coming his way one moment or another. Then Sanji snapped.

"I am _not_ fucking jealous! Get your shit straight, will you! This is not about me being jealous, this is about _you_ not giving a fuck about what respect means! I am _not_ a fucking second option, and if this is your idea of how our deal will work then consider it over, because I'm _not_ doing this, Zoro!"

Zoro was left speechless for a good ten seconds, only managing to hold onto Sanji's arm tighter the moment he felt him wanting to leave the room again. Shit. There were so many things that were wrong with the situation. His drunken brain toyed with the thought that both their accusations held a point, but it was mainly screaming at him that he was doing this wrong, that he had only been babbling bullshit and giving half-assed information that had led to Sanji picturing things a whole lot different than they had actually happened and thus making him unreachable for what Zoro was trying to say. He clenched his jaw, trying to get Sanji's gaze on him, which was being slightly difficult with how Sanji seemed intent on avoiding it. Why he hadn't yet kicked him in the gut and left was beyond Zoro's inebriated understanding, but he guessed he wasn't in a good enough physical condition as to engage in such a violent move yet. That would explain why his reaction the moment he had snapped had been trying to leave the room rather than doing what he did best: angrily kick ass.

"Okay, Sanji, I'll need you to listen," he heard himself ask with a soft tone, almost sounding like a whisper. He was half fearing Sanji would blow up at the next thing he said, so he did his best to sound soothing, which he would've never attempted had he been sober, but he needed to get to Sanji and that's the best idea he could come up with at the moment.

Sanji sneered. He had called him by his name again and he was getting sick and tired of it. It was no secret by now that Zoro using his name did things to him and that it predisposed him to listen way more easily than if he didn't. He wasn't exactly sure if Zoro was aware of it or not, but it pissed him off big time, because it shouldn't be affecting him enough as to turn his gaze towards Zoro, which he ended up doing.

"Let me go."

"Okay, but listen for a second. Just a second. Then I'm letting you go, yeah?"

Sanji frowned at the way Zoro kept asking for concessions. It didn't suit him. Which he shouldn't be giving a fuck about, because Zoro was drunk and Sanji was angry enough as to not give a fuck about anything the swordsman did, but it still unsettled him.

He didn't answer, but Zoro took it as a yes and he was fast to order his thoughts and start clarifying things he had left hanging in the air for no valid reason at all.

"She didn't dump me, okay? I dumped her."

Sanji blinked at him and scowled, which made Zoro realize that hadn't been the smartest choice of words since it made it seem like Zoro had some kind of pride issue with Sanji assuming somebody would have dumped him; it made him sound like he needed to prove a prideful point, and that's the last thing Zoro wanted it to sound like at the moment, because that would only lead to Sanji losing his patience once and for all.

But he had to thank his lucky star that Sanji was able to read between the lines as well. He had to thank his lucky star that, after an initial rush of outrage at Zoro's statement, Sanji had realized there was an actual point behind it. Zoro hadn't meant to sound like a self-conceited macho, he had merely tried to clarify the fact that he had _willingly_ been left hanging. Which, even with how pissed off he was at the moment, managed to make a difference in Sanji's head. He felt something deflate inside him, only a tad, but it was there, and he was definitely more willing to listen now, even if he was feeling quite suspicious about it.

"Why?"

Zoro tried to come up with something other than 'because she wasn't you', which was the first thing that came to mind. He had already opened his mouth to say it, but some upper force had miraculously kept him from doing so, _thank fuck_. Even his inebriated brain could tell that that particular statement wasn't a good idea. So he went for the next best thing; one that hadn't exactly been in his mind the moment he had decided to cockblock himself back in the club, but wasn't exactly a lie either since it was an actual doubt running through his head.

"We didn't talk about if we wanted this to be exclusive or not," he blurted, hoping it wouldn't backfire. "I didn't want to fuck this up, so I thought I may as well wait a bit and discuss it with you before I do anything… so I stopped."

Sanji felt his chest getting rid of the major anger he had been building up, leaving him staring at Zoro with a slightly lost look, almost as if Zoro's words had confused the hell out of him. Which they had, but not because of their meaning. They had made something stir in his stomach, and they had definitely placated him, much to his annoyance; it may have something to do with the fact that he could no longer assume Zoro had no respect at all towards him but rather the opposite, if Zoro frustrating his own night to make sure he wasn't crossing any limits was any hint of it. Plus, it was a valid point. It still didn't explain why the fuck Zoro would try to get into his pants afterwards, much less when he had clearly had the intention of not telling him he had kissed someone else until Sanji had noticed (that was most definitely _not_ respectful), but it was an irrefutably legit doubt.

Sanji sighed and let his back softly hit the wall as he dragged a hand across his face, trying to calm down. Dealing with Zoro could be a pain in the ass, let alone dealing with him being drunk, which was a first (and hopefully the last time he'd go through this). They were in no condition whatsoever to discuss something like that at the moment, but it felt wrong to just ignore what Zoro had said. He doubted Zoro would remember the answer the day after, but they could always go back on the topic later on.

"Exclusive sounds embarrassing," he groaned.

Zoro relaxed the moment he heard the complaint come out of Sanji's lips, knowing that the most imminent danger had faded away. He mentally patted his back for the success. Wasn't he a genius?

But his thoughts were put to a halt by Sanji's serious and thoughtful eyes boring in his as he seemed to calculate his next words, forcing Zoro to concentrate and listen.

"As far as I'm concerned, no, we are not 'exclusive'. I'll let you know I'm still planning to be with as many women as I feel like whenever we reach land; that's not going to change. The deal changes nothing. It's a convenient agreement, and that's exactly its purpose; we'll use it whenever it's convenient for us. For _both_ of us. It was never meant to be a boundary."

Zoro stared at him, undecipherable expression taking over his features as Sanji tried to read him without success.

"So you can do whatever you want, because I will too," he felt the need to specify seeing how Zoro had just put an end to a perfectly doable fun night when facing the doubt.

At that point he doubted Zoro registered what he was saying. He wondered how drunk the greenhead actually was. That until Zoro gave him a slow nod, letting him know he understood.

"Are we on the same page about this?" Sanji asked, tone careful. It was an important part of their deal, he now realized, and it was absolutely necessary for them to agree on this one for it to work.

"We are."

Sanji sighed, relieved. Good.

"That doesn't mean you can come to me right after you've had something with someone as if it's no one's business. I don't care who you sleep with, I don't care if you kiss half the people in the club, but then count me out for that night. When it's others, it's others; when it's me, it's me. Don't go thinking you'll get away with both because that's not how I'll be playing this game. If you get dumped or cockblock yourself it's your problem, not mine, are we clear on this?"

Zoro gave a small nod and Sanji knew that's all he was going to get out of him, so he ended up sighing and running a hand through his face, nodding as well.

He still had his fingers pressed against his closed eyes when he muttered: "Come on, let's get some sleep." His tone was tired and all the tension he was still feeling had him ready to pass out in an attempt to make it go away.

When he felt lips latching to the skin on his neck right below his jaw, Sanji stiffened.

"What are you doing?"

Zoro didn't answer, instead he ran his lips all along his throat until he reached a spot by his earlobe, which he began kissing softly as ever.

Sanji let his hand fall from his face, putting a half-assed effort in trying to pry the swordsman away from him.

"Stop it. Were you even listening to what I just said?"

"Please."

Sanji froze at that, not really processing what he had just heard. But it's not like Zoro was planning for his voice to go ignored, because he kissed his way up to his ear, where he planted another gentle kiss before repeating: "Please."

Sanji's body became tense as hell, his face contorting in a grimace as he tried but failed to get the greenhead away, his brain trying to block the words spoken and the tone Zoro was using at the moment, which had every cell in his body feeling tingly and a heavy weight settling in his stomach.

Zoro kept him in place, not aggressively so but just insistently enough, as he went back to kissing and licking his neck and throat in a way that had Sanji's brain short-circuiting because that was nowhere near how Zoro would normally kiss him (the few times he had done so). While it lacked the usual aggressiveness, it seemed to pack enough intensity as to start a fire.

"Zoro-"

"Please. Come on, Sanji, I really need it. I can't go to sleep like this, Sanji, this itch is killing me," Zoro groaned against his skin, eyebrows knotted in self-restraint as he did his best to illustrate his need through his dragged kissing. "Just this once. I promise I'll leave you alone after this, just… _please._"

Sanji's stomach dropped, his breathing becoming uneven and his body feeling slightly numb as his ears had a hard time processing everything coming out of Zoro's mouth, which he had yet to comprehend. Zoro was… _begging?_ Just how much did Zoro really need to get the frustration out of his system as for him to forget about his pride and let himself beg for it? Even if he was drunk, the thought hit Sanji that Zoro baring his needs like that hadn't solely been born from the alcohol effects but from a deeper itch which alcohol was happening to ease him into expressing out loud.

"Don't do this," he heard himself muttering, his attempts to drive Zoro away diminishing until the only trace of them was Sanji's hands against Zoro's shoulders.

Zoro hummed, dragging his mouth north until he captured Sanji's earlobe with his teeth, proceeding to run his tongue over where he had just bit.

"Do what?" he lazily asked.

Sanji felt a violent shiver run down his spine.

"Don't beg. It doesn't suit you."

If Sanji's hands hadn't managed to get Zoro to leave him some personal space, his words did as soon as they left his mouth, Zoro slowly titling his head back to fix Sanji with a stare he couldn't read for saving his life.

Sanji blinked at him, half wearily so, and half shocked at the heaviness he was being stared with, which hit him like a punch in the face, momentarily interrupting his breathing. And he honestly didn't know what he was expecting, but he didn't back away when Zoro's lips met his own, the friction nowhere as bruising as it had initially been but double the passionate in some sort of weird way Sanji couldn't understand.

Zoro breathed hard against Sanji, his lips slightly trembling in their slide against the blonde's. If Zoro's quiet begging had unsettled Sanji to the point where he didn't find it in him to deny the greenhead; Sanji's attempt to protect Zoro's pride on his behalf by keeping him from pleading anymore and giving in, for his sake, had driven Zoro's heart to a painful halt he didn't have the mind to interpret.

What Sanji didn't understand about the kiss, which definitely felt different than the ones shared before, was the fact that it was packed with gratefulness, which intensity overshadowed the underlying lust and need Sanji had expected to exclusively feel with it. As drunk as Zoro might have been and as much as he had consciously put himself out there by begging for Sanji to help him out with this one, the greenhead wasn't about to put into words the overflowing feeling of thankfulness that was currently choking him for Sanji to better understand; instead putting every bit of it in the kiss he had impulsively initiated, leaving it for Sanji's brain to decipher if he felt like it.

In the back of his mind, Zoro knew he shouldn't be taking advantage of Sanji's once-in-a-blue-moon understanding and generosity, but he couldn't stop himself, something painful in his chest keeping him from leaving it at that, pushing him to take this further.

Then again, whatever Sanji was expecting was _not_ Zoro suddenly dropping to his knees, lifting Sanji's white T-shirt and almost instantly kissing his abdomen and working his way down. The moment he processed what was going on, Sanji's hands darted to push Zoro's head back, shock rapidly making him freak out.

"Zoro, _no_," he was fast to reject, his voice mandatory yet slightly trembling, because, _holy shit_, there was no way this was happening!

Zoro let his forehead rest against Sanji's pressing palm and raised his gaze to fix it on him which, given the angle, made a shiver run down the blonde's spine. Zoro leveled him with a slightly challenging and more than resolute half glare that had Sanji gulping. When Zoro pressed forward again, Sanji's palm pressed back to keep Zoro's head in place, his stomach flipping in the process.

"No. You are going to regret this in the morning."

He had tried to sound firm and final, he really had. And he half succeeded. Just that the now more than obvious wavering in his voice gave away the fact that not every part of him agreed with the way he was trying to make things go: that is, cockblocking himself again.

But he couldn't let Zoro do this, not when he may not be on his right mind, not when it meant taking things to a level he hadn't yet considered taking them. One thing was a quick hand job, the other was having Zoro pretty clearly wanting to give him a blow job and ready to do so on his knees. But there was something on that exact same sight that had Sanji's body rebelling against his rational self, all blood rushing south. He had never in his life thought he'd see Zoro on his knees. Much less in front of him. Much less _for_ him. And such display of willingness had him feeling a bit lightheaded, not to say fundamentally pulled apart.

Zoro's hand on his wrist ripped his brain out of his freak-out session, his eyes shooting south only to meet with Zoro's intense stare, which had him stiffening.

"Sanji, I want to. I mean it."

He had called him by his name. Again. He had been calling him by his name all night. Did Zoro know how it played with Sanji's will-power and weakened it? Did he know how much it made him feel like he was being bared for Zoro to see right through him, how much it made him feel like Zoro was letting him see through him as well? Sanji was slowly starting to realize that there never were any lies attached to his name when Zoro used it. Whenever he did, the word came with honesty around and following it. Or so it felt like. If that wasn't the case, Zoro had a pretty cruel way of playing with Sanji in order to get him to do what the swordsman wanted.

Zoro pulled at his wrist, first tentatively, then more firmly as soon as he felt Sanji's resistance faltering. Sanji found himself not being able to tear his eyes away from Zoro's in an attempt to find something in Zoro's gaze that told him that this was a mistake, that Zoro didn't know what he was doing, that Sanji should stop it since he was the one with his reasoning capacity less tainted at the moment. But he found none of those signs. Zoro's stare was unhesitating, and Sanji's hand felt to his side in surrender.

Zoro took it as permission to lift his shirt again and kiss his navel, slowly dragging his lips towards the hem of Sanji's pajama pants, where he stopped for a second and breathed deep in an attempt to steady himself. He was in no way doubting _what_ he was about to do, but there is a difference between being positive about wanting to do something and not really knowing _how_ to go about it. _That_ had him feeling nervous and unsure. He had never in his life given a blowjob, nor did he understand why he was feeling so up for it at the moment since he doubted thankfulness was all there was to it; but the thing is that he totally wanted to, his stomach flipping at the thought. It's just that he didn't know how to pull it off without embarrassing himself.

Zoro wasn't great at dealing with inexperience. Not of others, but his own. He was the kind of person who wants to get things right as fast as possible, someone who'll be relentless to be the best at everything he had an interest in, which meant that stuff that made him feel insecure about his own abilities usually had him in a bit of a tight spot as to how to deal with it.

Then he felt Sanji's hand pulling at his green strands and forcing his face a few inches away from his crotch, giving him a small glare.

"Come on, you don't have to. Let's stop this, it wasn't a good idea to begin with."

Sanji's tone wasn't only firm but it held a certain amount of bad concealed care. He respected Zoro enough to be the first one to offer a way out when he felt Zoro's slightest doubt about it. Enough as to be slightly trembling in restraint but ignoring it in favour of getting Zoro to stop where he thought the swordsman wasn't all that comfortable.

And, really, Zoro didn't deserve this amount of care and mindfulness, the swordsman thought to himself as images of him kissing that blonde woman at the club ran through his head. But Sanji was misinterpreting. Zoro's doubt wasn't grounded on him not feeling secure about doing this. It was grounded on him not feeling secure about how to do this, and he wasn't about to leave Sanji hanging once he had clearly initiated something only because he couldn't pull his shit together. Or so went his reasoning.

Zoro growled and snatched Sanji's hand away from his hair, quickly lowering the blonde's pants before he could start acting like a fucking altruistic monk again. Sanji's hard on was revealed to both of them, leaving Sanji furiously blushing and Zoro feeling a bit intimidated. He had never felt so when giving the blonde a hand job, but putting _that_ in his mouth was a completely different thing.

Okay, but _what the fuck_, he was Roronoa Zoro, he wasn't about to let himself be scared of dick, what the hell!

Next thing he knew his hand was on Sanji's length, stroking it as he eyed it with more intensity and intent than Sanji's dignity would've liked, trying to get his brain to come to terms with how this would work. He reached the conclusion that he was definitely going to suck at this (both literally and figuratively), but just as his dignity took the blow, his brain came to the second conclusion that everyone had a first time and that first times couldn't be used to keep score, not even by himself. As long as he didn't bite Sanji's dick off, it's not like his mistakes were going to be of _catastrophic _consequences. That if he left his pride aside and didn't take the whole issue as something he had to be a pro at from the start. Zoro remembered some of his previous partners' first times doing something like this; there undoubtedly had been something erotic about the inexperience they had showed, which Zoro had enjoyed as much as a professional blowjob.

Half reassured by that, Zoro mustered the courage to try to do what his urges were pulling him to do.

The moment Zoro's mouth covered Sanji's head, skipping tentative licks and preliminary testing as was Zoro's style, the blonde closed his eyes tight and decided to fuck it, embarrassment and awkwardness clear in his features. Was he really letting Zoro do this? When Zoro started experimenting with his tongue along his length, Sanji came to terms with the fact that, yes, he was pretty much allowing Zoro to suck his dick without putting a fight anymore, which had his face turning even redder than before. Sanji bit his lip and mentally cursed at Zoro, himself, and the world, trying to restrain a moan and actually succeeding. There was a difference between letting Zoro do this and showing the fact that he was beginning to enjoy it amidst the mortifying awkwardness he was feeling. Basically because some part of his brain was yelling at him that this wasn't okay, that they shouldn't be taking things to this level, that it was _Zoro_ who was on his knees and attempting to give him a decent blowjob. Zoro's first blowjob, presumably.

Sanji groaned, more at his conflicting feelings than because Zoro had done anything that felt particularly great (if you took out of the picture the fact that receiving a blowjob was, as a general fact, a _more_ than pleasurable experience).

He didn't know why he thought this was a good idea (it clearly wasn't), but he ended up trying to pretend Zoro was someone else, maybe a beautiful lady, the only reason being that the certainty that it was _Zoro_ doing _that_ was too much to process and digest at the moment and he needed to keep his mind off that piece of reality. Just that there was _no way_ he was fooling himself out of this one. The ragged breath and occasional guttural sounds he was hearing were clearly and unmistakably Zoro's; the callouses grazing his skin were Zoro's; and the way he was hesitant but firm couldn't be anyone else's doing, the brief reminder of Zoro's strong hold on Wado very much present in the way he worked with his mouth.

Okay, his great idea was a failure.

This was _very much_ Zoro and it very much felt like him, what was the point in trying to take him for someone else? Where was the respect Sanji claimed to hold for him if he depersonalized Zoro's actions like that? It hit him like a punch, sudden and violently, guilt eating him the moment the thought crossed his mind. He couldn't do that. He couldn't pretend Zoro was someone else for the selfish purpose of easing himself into the situation, that would be anything but fair on Zoro, who had just dropped his pride and defenses to do the last thing Sanji had expected him to do, something Sanji knew he couldn't bring himself to attempt not even as repayment since the mere idea of being in Zoro's place had something fundamental yelling '_no_' at him for simply toying with the thought. No, Zoro deserved better than that, and Sanji owed him that at least, out of respect. If he was letting him do this, he was doing so while acknowledging everything it entailed.

His hand unconsciously went to card in Zoro's strands rather softly, almost apologetically, his gaze lowering to watch what Zoro was doing, even when he had half a mind in scrunching them shut. Sanji needed to come to terms with what was happening and he would get nowhere if he tried to cheat his brain out of this. The sight he was met with had his stomach churning and his fingers twisting a bit tighter in Zoro's hair, if only for self-restraint purposes. It was as surreal as it was devastatingly _hot_, Zoro's determined ministrations captivating him as he did his best to keep himself grounded and maintain the increasing pleasure at bay.

At some point Zoro had started taking more of his length in his mouth, experimenting with how far he could get before gagging, which earned him his first gag after a few clumsy tries and a soft reminder by Sanji not to scratch him with his teeth, which Zoro was still adjusting to. By then, Sanji was breathing hard and most certainly enjoying the attention, putting all of his concentration in keeping his own movements and sounds at bay to make it easier for Zoro and, maybe, to make a point: that he wasn't all that affected by what Zoro was doing to him, because he definitely _shouldn't_ have been. Oh, God, this was _so_ wrong. Sanji couldn't help but watch with glazed eyes as Zoro ripped his head away and started coughing, unfamiliar wetness settling behind his eyes at the slight choking sensation. The sight troubled Sanji as much as it turned him on, his stomach twisting.

In Zoro's favour, Sanji had to say that he looked confident and decided as fuck, but he could also see and _feel_ the hesitation and inexperience in his movements, which had Sanji completely aware of the fact that Zoro had put himself in a vulnerable position which Sanji wasn't used to seeing him in, much less in front of him. And Sanji honestly didn't know how to deal with it if it wasn't by keeping Zoro from putting himself in that position for any longer.

"Drop it, it's enough," he found himself saying with evident strain in his voice.

Sanji had crouched in front of Zoro and was now holding his shoulder in an attempt to get his attention, but next eye contact he managed to achieve he received a glare.

"You don't like it?"

Sanji sputtered, the straight-forwardness and shamelessness of the question wiping his brain clear of linkable words for a second.

"Well, yes-I mean, _yes_, but-"

"Then shut up."

A flash of pain shot through Sanji's lower back when Zoro followed his words with a shove that had him falling on his ass, his back bumping against the wall, where it remained pressed for good measure as Sanji's body tensed up and the blonde made an effort to keep it still for a few seconds so that the burning sensation faded away. It took Zoro about two seconds to stop his advances as he registered Sanji's hiss and slightly pained expression, all of his annoyance being replaced by a sudden 'shit, I fucked up again' feeling the moment he realized what was going on.

"Fuck, sorry! _Sorry_, I didn't mean to-"

Sanji tuned the apologies down, cursing under his breath for good measure because, what the hell, this was about the fourth time this kind of situation happened with the greenhead, and the second that night; that damn caveman couldn't be thoughtful for saving his life! It's not like the pain had been insufferable, it was definitely the best it had been for a while since Chopper's treatment had been doing wonders to heal the damn wound that had nearly gotten him killed, but that didn't mean that harsh treatment didn't get his back to protest against it, and the feeling was less than pleasant. There was also the fact that Sanji was pretty much fed up with being shoved around by now, especially with how Zoro had been making a habit out of it lately.

He felt Zoro's hands pressing against his bent knees, one of them trying to reach for his shoulders, or his face, Sanji wasn't sure and he doubted Zoro had any idea of where he was intending that hand to land either. He was muttering stressed and pissed off apologies, more than likely cursing at his own idiocy and clumsiness in the back of his mind.

"I'm not fucking dying, can you, like, _chill_ a bit, for a change?" Sanji groaned, feeling a headache forming. The fact that his dick was very much erect in between his thighs despite the accident, suddenly deprived from contact, wasn't helping him gather his thoughts together either. That might be why his reaction had been milder than Zoro had been expecting, which had him stilling and carefully examining Sanji's features as they relaxed, trying to pinpoint when was the right moment to try something again without the blonde kicking his face in.

Sanji felt Zoro trace circles on his knee with the palm of his hand in an attempt to be soothing, maybe. At some point his other hand, which had been hovering in the air for a while, ended up landing on his other knee, giving it a light squeeze before imitating his other hand's rubbing motion.

Sanji silently raised his gaze until his eyes met with Zoro's intense scrutiny, which had him tensing for a whole new list of reasons that had nothing to do with pain. His knees were still stiff, but it barely took a few minutes until Zoro felt them relax. It was around then when the swordsman gave a tentative attempt at spreading them apart, barely pushing, more like nudging them in opposite directions. Sanji's first reaction was to press back in, but Zoro's fingers went back to gently squeezing and rubbing, way more patiently so than before, the numbing contact making Sanji relax enough as to end up sighing and doubtfully letting Zoro spread his legs apart on his second attempt.

Another sigh made its way out of his throat much shakier than the previous one as he watched Zoro bend his body forward and seek his length with his lips until he was back into business, his tip swiftly sliding back in Zoro's mouth as he took care of the rest with his hand, which he attempted to coordinate with his bobbing motions. Sanji felt heat rise to his cheeks, which he concealed by hiding his face behind his hands and trying to coordinate his breathing so as not to let out any shameful sounds. Why it felt _this_ wrong to let it be known that he was enjoying this _quite a lot_ he didn't exactly understand, the only thing he knew is that it did. He wasn't supposed to be letting Zoro do this, there were limits that shouldn't be crossed and he still hadn't come to terms as to why Zoro had chosen to break through them, if he dismissed the fact that he was quite obviously drunk. Inebriated state aside, there was an actual powerful will which Sanji could totally read behind Zoro's pupils, and that was the part he couldn't put a name to or understand.

Not that he was in any condition to mull over it when his dick was inside the swordsman's mouth, who was currently trying out a few tricks to get more of his length covered, the effort and concentration clear in the sounds that were filling Sanji's ears and invalidating any attempt of distancing himself of what was going on by shielding his eyes. Not seeing was of no use when he could hear and _feel_ what he was hearing and feeling. The sounds were lewd enough as for Sanji's composure to crack.

As for Zoro, he was beginning to get frustrated. To be honest, last thing he had in mind when he had first attacked Sanji in the bathroom had been to give him a blowjob. It's not like it had even crossed his mind before. But there had been something in Sanji's eyes when he had tried to stop him from embarrassing himself even further, there had been something about the way he had decided to give in because he had sensed Zoro really needed it that had the swordsman acting out of impulse and very willingly so.

First thing he had been looking for when he had kissed the blonde had been to scratch his itch; he had been selfishly seeking his own pleasure in an attempt to placate his inner revolting self. He didn't exactly know how he had gone from that to kneeling in front of Sanji and sucking him off, which did little to solve Zoro's own physical frustrations, but he knew that, at that point, he wanted it to be good for the blonde. Not that much out of an altruistic urge, but out of his own challenge thirst which had his pride seeking for him to be good at what he was doing, thus making Sanji lose it.

So far he had only gotten a few muffled grunts out of him, but that was about it. His free hand was gripping Sanji's thigh for leverage and he could feel it flexing as much as he could feel Sanji's abs tightening every now and then, which lead him to believe that he was doing _something_ well, but it still didn't feel like it was enough. Sanji wasn't a moaning mess or anything remotely similar to that, and Zoro's pride was beginning to feel threatened. Did he affect him this little? Come on, Zoro was roasting his wits to try to recall and recreate all the techniques he had ever enjoyed receiving, and the most he was getting was a _grunt_? It's not like Sanji had ever made a show out of coming or sharing hand jobs with him; the blonde was definitely more vocal than Zoro, but he wasn't obnoxiously loud either. But still, that was too quiet, even for him.

Feeling slightly annoyed and a bit disheartened, fearing that he was doing an awful job at what he was expecting to at least do a decent performance at for a beginner, he looked up to check on the blonde and was met with a sight that had his doubts vanishing. Sanji had his face covered, his jaw clenching and his sweaty neck putting on show Sanji's strain as he kept whatever he was feeling to himself. There was something in the way he was pressing his face _hard_ against his palms that had Zoro believing he had him on edge, tight self-restraint visible for everyone to see.

That had his vigor increasing tenfold, his attention switching back to what he was doing as he made it a goal to at least get a moan out of the shitty cook. Sanji was more than likely _not_ seeing this as a challenge, but Zoro's less than sober brain sure as hell saw it as one.

He chocked again, forcing Sanji to snap out of it and try to get Zoro to take it easy or just downright stop it, but Zoro was hearing none of it, his fingers digging in Sanji's tight as he held on tighter and went back to doing his thing, which left Sanji cursing and pressing a hand back against his eyes, his self-control running away like Luffy would run after food.

It was a few moments later, neither of them could really tell how much time had gone by at that point, that Sanji's throat let out a dragged loud moan that startled Zoro enough to jump back and stare at Sanji like a deer right in front of headlights, his heart beating at a mile per second with surprise.

If Zoro was surprised, Sanji was dumbfounded and irrevocably mortified for life. Their eyes met as Sanji's turned the size of a plate and Zoro's squinted in a mischievous glint that quickly led to a less than innocent smirk being flashed his way. There he had it. His price.

Zoro was fast to lower his head again, taking as much as he could in his mouth in one go, almost choking himself in the process, but humming the moment he heard Sanji hiss, which he took as a good sign, his mind set in trying to repeat what he had been doing when he had earned the moan he had been seeking. Whatever he had just done had worked, it was just a matter of perfecting it.

"Fuck," Sanji muttered. Not out of pleasure but out of utter defeat and embarrassment. He knew what Zoro's look meant and he didn't like it one bit.

It was at that point that Sanji allowed himself to look again. There was no point in trying to keep his eyes shut to reality, not when it was very much happening right between his thighs and quite evidently so if his slip in his self-restraint was anything to go by.

He watched with hooded eyes and heavy breathing as Zoro's head bobbed up and down his length, which he could see disappearing in between his lips as Zoro's calloused hand worked with whatever he couldn't reach in what now seemed like coordinated moves which had Sanji losing focus at bits. This shouldn't be messing with him like that. He shouldn't have found it this hot, but it was, and damn if all his blood hadn't rushed south by now.

Zoro earned himself another breathy moan before Sanji's body clenched for good and the blonde went completely silent. His gaze raised to find Sanji biting hard on his lip and barely breathing as he tried to fight a lost battle against composure. The thought hit him that Sanji was close, and Zoro's might went straight into achieving to make him come, something intense hitting his chest at the sight.

It was with that impulsive mindset that he carelessly tried to fit all of Sanji's length in his mouth in one go, which had Sanji's tip hitting the back of his throat and igniting his gag reflex like lightening. Zoro ripped himself away from Sanji, thrown in a violent coughing fit, but his brain hadn't ignored the way Sanji had quite obviously moaned through gritted teeth the moment that had happened, so his hand went straight to pumping the blonde as fast as he could to coax release out of him even as he covered his mouth with his free hand and coughed his life away against it, reflex tears piling up behind his eyelashes. The moment he felt Sanji shudder, his strained eye snapped open to watch, and the sight went right to his crotch. He had never _watched_ Sanji's expression as he came and he swore this was his best _and_ worst idea to date. Any brain cell that had managed to survive the effects of the alcohol he had ingested that night was now officially deceased. How the fuck was this so hot? How the fuck had Sanji's expression turned into _that_, even when he was pretty clearly restraining himself through it? How the fuck was Zoro supposed to look at Sanji without replaying that scene in his head from now on, especially when they fought?

Just as Zoro's world felt apart a bit, his stomach doing crazy flips and willing him to do indecent things to the blonde, his body decided to remind him of his own problem down south through a particular coiling feeling at the pit of his stomach. _Shit_. His hand stilled on Sanji as the blonde regained his breath, eyes scrunched shut, and that was the moment he decided to let go and scramble to his feet and to the bathroom, away from Sanji before he could do any of the things his everything wanted to do to him at the moment. He couldn't impose that on Sanji, and if he stayed there any longer he would attempt to do just that, if his understanding of how his brain worked while drunk was correct.

Shit, fucking shitty fuck, everything he was doing was backfiring and he was starting to freak out. Had he just done _that_? Had he just thought of doing-? _Oh, shit_.

Sanji's breathing seemed to come to a stable pace after a while. He could feel his heart beating in his temples and he had lost all hearing abilities for a moment, to which he was still readjusting. He may or may not have lost his sight, but he couldn't really tell since he had closed his eyes the moment everything had gone down; his dick hitting the back of Zoro's throat being the end of him.

He took a deep breath and let his eyes slip open, blinking at the empty space in front of him but feeling too drained and lazy to do anything about it. He stayed there, sat with his back against the wall and his legs spread in front of him, his pants pooling at his ankles, as he stared at the opposite wall with hooded eyes while he tried to calm his heart rate and even his breathing. It took him a while to distinguish the sound of running water over the pounding in his head but, when he did, he frowned.

What the fuck was Zoro doing? As far as he knew (not that he knew much about anything at that given moment in time), Zoro hadn't come nor had he even touched himself, and he was more than sure that he hadn't touched him either. A weird sensation hit him, the reminder of wariness making its way into his chest and forcing his body to stand up, quite unstably so, and make his way towards the bathroom to check what that bastard was up to, because he was more than definitely up to something or at least doing something stupid.

He knocked on the door with a small scowl, but was met with silence. And so he went ahead and opened it, thanking fuck it wasn't properly locked, only to find the swordsman stark naked in the shower, absolutely wet and quite evidently jerking himself off even though Sanji was faced with his back.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

Zoro seemed rather startled as he swept around with his eye wide open, his hand jumping away from where he had it wrapped around as he stared at Sanji like he had just seen a ghost. Which confirmed the fact that he was far from sober. Zoro didn't normally jump at Sanji's sudden presence since he could always sense it coming, and he definitely didn't just stand there watching without his brain cells connecting when the blonde found him in embarrassing situations.

It took him a few seconds to register that Sanji had asked a question and a few more to process it; by the time he did he was warily biting his lip.

"You didn't look that much into it and it's not like I'm going to force you to return the favour," he stated in a low tone. Not only was he taken aback, he was quite upset that he had been interrupted this rudely by the guy he was trying to pry his own hands off. "Now, if you'll excuse me…"

"You are an idiot."

Zoro stilled, eye fixed in Sanji's expression as the other growled and got rid of his own clothes, jumping into the shower before he had a chance to react (or maybe he was being too slow). Next thing Zoro knew, he was being pushed so that he was facing the wall, Sanji's arms wrapping around his waist and being fast at grabbing Zoro's aching member and stroking it at a burning pace that had the swordsman choking a gasp since he hadn't been expecting it.

He had the sinking feeling that Sanji had forced him to turn around so that they wouldn't have to face each other, and he wasn't far from the truth. Sanji didn't want to see Zoro's face as he did what he was currently doing. His swollen lips and glistening eyes hadn't escaped his gaze the moment Zoro had looked back at him. Something had coiled quite aggressively at the pit of his stomach at the scene, and he had decided he was having none of it. Sure he could've just walked out of the room, but that didn't seem fair nor would his honor tolerate it after what Zoro had just done to him. He wasn't about to let Zoro fare on his own when he knew he had initially come to him to chase his own release, which had quite clearly gone the other way around; but that didn't mean that he had to look at him while helping him out, specially not his reddish lips, which he could now only picture around his dick. Great. Just great.

Sanji scrunched his eyes in frustration and let his forehead fall against Zoro's nape as he tried to do a quick job out of it, his left hand pressing against Zoro's twitching abs (what the fuck, they were rock hard how were those even natural?) to keep him still while he jerked him off in fast and precise movements that had the swordsman holding back a few groans against his forearm, which he was using to support himself against the wall.

Zoro wasn't thinking. The itch was insufferable now, and he swore that if he didn't get release he'd just go mad. Something at the back of his mind wanted to turn around and touch Sanji, but he never did so; partly because it was obvious that that as about the last thing Sanji wanted right now, and partly because his body wasn't responding.

And Sanji must've thought that he wasn't being efficient enough, because it didn't take long for him to drag his hand from the greenhead's abs to his nipple, which he pinched and rubbed out of instinct seconds before he craned his neck to get access to Zoro's earlobe, where he began abusing his flesh with a mix of teeth and tongue, trying to get him to his climax the fastest possible. He wasn't sure he could manage slow games without his brain cells committing mutiny and leading him to do something stupider than letting Zoro suck him off, and he was positive that Zoro didn't have the patience for it if the angry jerks of his hips against his hand were anything to go by.

Zoro bit back a deep growl at the increase of physical contact, Sanji's chest wetly sliding against his back with each slight movement he made. He was aware of Sanji's dick somewhere near his bare ass, but Sanji was purposely keeping a distance in between their lower bodies, which had Zoro intuiting it rather than feeling it against his skin; which he had to be grateful for because he honestly didn't know what his reaction might have been had there been any contact down there.

Sanji's mouth, which Zoro had no choice but to classify as talented, made its way towards his neck, where he began biting and licking in a way that had him feeling like he was about to be devoured. That and a few A+ performed hand movements had him groaning out loud and losing sight as he came all over Sanji's hand only to have everything washed away by the shower spray pouring onto them.

Amidst his short-lived moment of ecstasy, he didn't miss how Sanji's breath had become heavier against his neck, and he stayed somehow aware of the few seconds the blonde took to get away from him and regulate his oxygen own intake, which had become unbalanced at some point.

It took him a while to pull his wits together, but senses came back to him eventually. His forehead was still pressed against his forearm, which he didn't dare to stop using as a crutch to keep himself standing for the moment. The most elaborate movement he managed was to tilt his head to the side in order to focus his blurry gaze on Sanji, who was currently doing a quick job at spreading soap all over his body and hair, the few bandages Chopper still ordered him to use gone to waste. Zoro found himself not being able to do anything but stare in a daze, his eye travelling all over the expanse of Sanji's body.

The thought flashed him that he was beautiful.

And then he snapped out of it, brutally and suddenly, eye widened as he registered what his brain had just thought of. When Sanji turned around with what seemed like a tattooed half frown, he found Zoro's slightly freaked out stare on him, which contrasted with how relaxed and satisfied his body looked like. In his rush to get out of there before awkwardness got the worst out of him, he didn't pay much attention to it other than allowing his frown to deepen questioningly for a second.

"Come on, take a shower and go to sleep, it's about time we passed the fuck out."

Zoro moved a tad to allow Sanji to get out of the shower without any skin touching with his, but that's about as much as he did since he didn't find his voice to answer.

He watched as Sanji dried himself and silently exited the bathroom with a white towel wrapped around his hips, closing the door behind him in an attempt to put some much needed distance in between them.

Zoro's gaze was left with nothing to stare other than the mess the bathroom had become; his and Sanji's cum stained clothes messily laying on the floor, which resembled a huge puddle after Zoro had tried to wash away the smell of perfume that had made things go downhill without much care.

He felt the need to roll his eyes. He'd have to clean this in the morning, it wouldn't do for the hotel staff who regularly cleaned their rooms to find such a suspicious state of things, that if one of his nakama didn't come in first. Speaking of which, where had Robin gone? Was anyone planning on coming back for their watch or what? He would have cleaned everything now, but his ass had hit the floor right before he could order his body to do something productive. Not that he had his mind set on it either; he was too entranced in trying to comprehend how the fuck his brain had come up with the thought that Sanji was _beautiful,_ out of all the adjectives possible. He was fast to blame it on the alcohol which, in all fairness, was probably the cause of something like that occurring to him, but that didn't reassure him as much as it should have.

Damn, he _hated_ being drunk.

The floor was currently spinning under his weight and he was beginning to feel dizzy as fuck, his brain less than stable. While he had been at it with Sanji it had been easier to placate given how much concentration and self-restraint it had taken for him to get what he wanted, but right now, as he was coming down from his high and his body felt lightweight and foreign, the drunkenness effects were coming back with vengeance. Not to mention that his head was playing games with him and he didn't like it one bit.

Water was still running and hitting his skin in hot sprays, but Zoro's mind was far away from that and his body was way too exhausted as to start properly showering like Sanji had pretty much ordered. Man, he was fucked.

He'd regret all of this in the morning, he was sure of that. Not the blowjob per se but the way he had proved not to be able to control himself, the way he had begged and pushed and more than likely made a fool of himself; the way he had been forced to face an uncontrolled need he had been able to conceal up until now.

But, at the moment, he didn't care. He'd worry about it when the sun rose, there was no rush.

As for now, the only thing that mattered was that his body was completely relaxed and emptied of stress and frustration, his limbs feeling limp in a good way.

As for now, the itch was gone.

* * *

Chopper had been yelling for a while, outraged and angry at every single one of his crewmates. Not only had Robin left her watch earlier than she should've, she had apparently convinced the rest of not taking their turns, at least until morning, which had an injured Sanji and a drunk Zoro alone in their room while not being monitored by anyone.

"Believe me when I say you don't want to be there," Robin calmly repeated for the umpteenth time, not elaborating further, which had Chopper on edge because, what the hell, that was not a valid reason whatsoever!

"They need monitoring!" Chopper countered. "Especially Sanji!"

"Are they fighting again?" Luffy popped in. He had been quite easily convinced, but his curiosity didn't keep him from asking.

"Something like that," Robin muttered.

There was no trace of her mysterious chuckles or know-it-all stares, she was rather serious, but not necessarily worried. Nami and Franky hadn't asked and were fast to add their efforts to the cause, and Usopp had been smart enough not to protest, something in the back of his mind telling him that he shouldn't. Luffy had been asking questions non-stop, momentarily worried that the duo was playing fun games without him, but hadn't been particularly insisting, and Brook hadn't given a fuck.

Chopper had sworn he'd end them if they didn't fulfill their responsibilities, but it's not like he stood a chance. He was currently trapped in between Nami's arms as she smoothed him with reassuring words here and there which had him yelling back at her, but she wasn't listening. Instead, she frowned at Robin, not knowing what her expression meant. It wasn't good nor was it bad, it was pretty much neutral, but it had Nami worrying over it. She had been the one to send Zoro back to his room after having half stopped him from hooking up with some stranger and, by the looks of it, he had made it there, else Robin wouldn't be back in the club and starting a mutiny against Chopper's orders to begin with. But Nami had been expecting her to send her a knowing smirk which never came her way, which could only mean that the situation had been rather delicate the moment she had left those two idiots alone.

Whatever was going on between them (and Nami had a fair idea of what it might be), they were walking on thin ice and both her and Robin were starting to understand the potential extent of the consequences. Meddling in their business had been rather easy and a bit like an obligation as nakama for them at the beginning, but it was now becoming a touchy subject. Sure they could give a nudge here and there, but things were visibly starting to become complicated and there was only so much they could do without messing it up for them.

Robin's blank expression confirmed it. She believed herself in no position to judge or foretell anything anymore; it had stopped being a betting game.

It was downright gambling, yes, but it wasn't for any of them to put their bets in anymore. It was between Zoro and Sanji and they could only trust them to have enough sense to not make a bet they couldn't back up afterwards.

Chopper kept scolding them all in her arms and Luffy kept asking questions that Robin kept dismissing one by one by delivering opaque answers which seemed to satisfy his captain. Usopp had long ago disappeared to get some drinks with Brook in an attempt to distance himself from the situation before he could _really_ start wondering what was going on. He had the feeling that he didn't want to know.

Nami sighed, sharing a quick glance with Franky, who was pulling the same kind of face Nami and Robin were wearing.

She had never wished for those two idiots to pull their shit together as much as she was currently wishing they would.

**TBC**


	36. Chapter 36 - Hangover

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**Chapter 36**

**Hangover**

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"Good morning! No, don't you dare whine at me, it's passed noon already, it's about time you woke up!"

"_Fuck."_

Zoro's first hangover was officially a bitch.

And starting the day with Nami's voice screeching its way into their room was the worst possible way to face it.

He pathetically groaned the moment she (he assumed it had been Nami) dragged the curtains open with the same vigor Luffy would attack his food, and he was fairly sure that she had enjoyed every second of it as daylight hit him in the face like a slap.

Other sounds, obnoxiously loud ones, filled the room following suit, matching the banging inside Zoro's head both in intensity and harshness. Fuck, his head was going to explode.

It was at that moment, as he dragged his sheets up to his face to cover it and maybe make the excruciating pain diminish by blocking light and sounds out of his perception, when the feeling of the fabric sliding up his bare thighs brought him back to reality.

Oh, shit.

He brought his knees up his stomach in an attempt to hide his nudity under the blankets he had just yanked up and confirmed, much to his absolute misery and disgrace, that he was very much naked. Which brought back last night's memories in a flooding rush.

_Oh, shit._

He had lost awareness of what was going on around him as he peeked his head from under the sheets only to find Sanji laying in his own bed and looking back at him with the same expression Zoro was currently pulling; the one that seemed to read, _holy shit we're fucked_. And they were. Zoro felt a furious blush hit his cheeks, which was his cue to hide his face back under the safety of the blankets, leaving Sanji to fare on his own because, nope, he wasn't doing this first thing in the morning, much less when his head was stabbing him with death promises and his stomach felt ready to throw up everything he had ingested in the course of his life ever since he was born.

Sanji, on the other hand, was lucky enough to have put on some pants the night before, which left him way less exposed than Zoro could potentially be if Nami decided to act like a bitch and yank the blankets away from him in an attempt to wake him up; but he wasn't less aware of the situation.

"Good morning, my flower," the blonde was fast to greet her as soon as he got a hold of himself. His voice had come out unusually raspy and worn out, but he could and would blame it on the fact that he had just woken up.

"Morning. Okay, Franky, put this here. Be careful!"

It was at that moment that Sanji took notice of what was going on inside their room.

Usopp and Franky were introducing about a dozen barrels in the space under the redhead's directions, which left him frowning in confusion. He sat up in bed and did a fast check on his body just in case there were any suspicious stains he had to hide before uncovering himself. Sure he had showered the night before, but he could never be careful enough. He had determined there weren't, so he proceeded to get out of the warmth of his blankets with the intention to stand up and help them out with whatever they were doing. It was then that his hand lazily scratched the space between his neck and shoulder and a slight sting met his touch.

Oh, fuck.

He didn't need a mirror to know what he would be faced with if he looked into one. That's the exact point where Zoro had viciously bit him the night before, and he was positive that calling whatever mark had been left there a 'hickey' would be the understatement of the century. He felt the urge to screech but instead kept his hand there in a vice, thanking his lucky star that the unmarked side of his body was the one currently facing his crewmates, who had barely spared him a glance.

His throat went dry and his palms sweaty as he glared at the lump of blankets Zoro had become, killing intent evident in his eyes. He would murder that bastard, he swore he would.

"Usopp, can you pass me the blue sweatshirt I have in my wardrobe?" he masked out with all the control he could muster not to sound as freaked out as he was currently feeling.

"Get it yourself, man."

Sanji swore he'd also murder their snipper, but that was when Nami intervened.

"Come on, Usopp, don't be a bitch, hand it to him, you're right in front of the damn wardrobe."

She sounded slightly pissed off and Sanji didn't know what had brought her to defend his case this fast with something as mundane as Usopp passing him some clothes, but he didn't question his luck; he was in no position to do so. Usopp grumbled something but did as he was told and threw the piece of clothing at Sanji's face, just that it never hit its target as Sanji's free hand came to catch it in the air while he mumbled some mild bro-to-bro insult at his nakama, who smirked in return and went back to work, clearly displeased with the chores Nami had just imposed on them.

"What are those?" Sanji forced himself to casually ask the moment he had covered everything there was to cover, finally standing up to help them get the barrels in, an offer Franky turned down real quick since Chopper had forbidden Sanji from doing any hard work for now.

"Terevera's star drink. The one that turned Zoro into the brainless algae you claim him to be," Nami enlightened him with a teasing smirk. That had Sanji inevitably laughing, quickly followed by a few snickers by Franky and Usopp.

"Fuck off. All of you. This is actual hell," the resident lump of blankets groaned back. It had probably intended to be some sort of barking, but it came out as pitiful whines instead, which had all of them laughing at him without remorse.

Sanji's laughter was decidedly nervous, but if someone noticed, no one commented on it.

"How many are there?" he was fast to ask.

It's not like he didn't enjoy making fun of Zoro's misery, that would always be his favourite hobby after cooking and kicking ass, but he didn't want any more attention to be placed on the swordsman, not when there was so much to hide right behind the circumstance of Zoro's hangover. Sanji was painfully aware of what had led to that and what had been going on between them the previous night because of it. He was also aware of how annoying his nakama could get when someone was having a deadly time waking up after a hardcore night out; he had seen all too often how they'd turn into Satan's underlings and start annoying the shit out of the poor miserable soul they'd decided to pick on. One of their favourite torture instruments was to yank any existent sheets off them and kicking them out of bed and onto the floor, and Sanji had the sinking feeling, by the way Zoro was very evidently covering every single inch of his body despite not being anything near prudish or shy, that if that were to happen, consequences would be _bad_.

Really now, what had his life become?

"Twelve. We'll be bringing a few more, I think," Franky ventured, looking at Nami for confirmation. He looked endlessly amused by Zoro's shameful state, but he didn't seem intent on taking his mocking to a physical level, which had Sanji feeling slightly relieved.

"May I ask why?"

"We are taking it with us when we leave. You see, consumed in an adequate amount," Nami gave a sidelong glance at Zoro's hibernating form, "this is like the Holy Grail. It takes about two cups of it to get you _consistently_ drunk, which is much less than normal alcohol takes, yet the actual alcohol in it is really low and the effects are less severe. Unless you go all out and decide to drink five pints of it and maybe make your day hell to add a bit of spice to life, like Zoro there did."

"Fuck you," came from under the blankets.

"Show some respect, you caveman!" Sanji barked back, partly because he was honestly done with Zoro's manners but also because he didn't fancy him getting on Nami's nerves when all it took for their nakama to start suspecting shit was to place actual attention on the swordsman.

And enter the bathroom. Wait. _Wait._ Had Zoro gotten rid of the mess they had carelessly left there?

Sanji's eyes snapped towards Zoro's bed but he found nothing similar to a stare-on-stare conversation since there was hardly any communication he could establish with a wrinkled mountain of sheets. Fuck. Zoro couldn't have been this dense, right? Sure Sanji had left his clothes there too, but in his rush to leave the room he had been expecting Zoro to clean it as he left. Had he, though? Because, fuck, if Zoro's naked figure under the blankets or Sanji's hurriedly covered monster of a hickey didn't ring a bell in their crewmates' heads, cum-covered clothes laying on a flooded bathroom floor would definitely do for a hint.

"Need some more help? I was going to take a shower, but I can help you if you need me to," he nervously offered, looking for an excuse to check on the bathroom and assess the potential damage. It's not like it was probable that their three visitors would suddenly feel like using their toilet when they had their own down the hall, and they had no reason to pop their heads in there and check for the sake of it, but the possibility remained solid and, knowing their luck, Sanji wouldn't bet against it happening, because he may lose his money. Along with his dignity. Shit, he was paranoid, but he _needed_ to check the damn bathroom.

"Nah, it's fine, we've got it sorted."

"Want us to bring Chopper in? Zoro looks like he is dying," Usopp offered with a frown that was half amused half worried.

"_No!_"

And really, both Zoro and Sanji needed to chill and start acting like normal people do if they wanted to keep their deal a secret, because both of them yelling 'no' at the same time was, at the very least, suspicious, in a really lame way.

"He'll take the chance to start poking at me again, nope, I'm not going through this just because this bastard can't handle his alcohol," Sanji was fast to justify with frantic movements of his hand. They didn't need more company, thank you very much.

"He'll murder me, leave me alone, don't bring him in, for fuck's sake!" Zoro lamentably whined, his head popping out of his shield for the first time since they had been assaulted mid-sleep. Only for it to loll forward, Zoro's brain spinning so hard that he felt bile climb up his throat in a violent wave. "Fuck."

And he clearly didn't think it through, because next thing he knew he was standing and running towards the bathroom, opening and closing the door behind him with a bang in a flash, his nudity happily exposed to everyone standing in that room as he ran by. They had a moment to hear him start to puke his guts out (hopefully not on the floor) before Usopp started screeching in distress and Sanji viciously kicked the door with a hysterical vein popping in his forehead. So much for trying to be discreet.

"_The fuck_ are you doing! Have some manners, you Neanderthal, no one wanted to see this!" he yelled in outrage, _majorly_ pissed off now. What he meant by that is that no one _should_ have seen this, and he was about to have a mental breakdown over how royally fast Zoro had fucked that logic.

"I didn't need to see that!" Usopp indignantly yelled. And really, it's not like he hadn't seen him naked before, they all had, but he didn't fancy being flashed with that image without warning, what the fuck.

"Damn it, bro, that was so not super," Franky groaned with his hands thrown in the air.

"Oh my God," Nami brought her hand to her face and pinched her nose in order to gather some patience, which she generally lacked.

"The hell is he even doing naked! He never sleeps naked!" Usopp was babbling in indignation, the entirety of the scene he had just witnessed being too much for someone who had woken up not that long ago. "And he has a hangover, what the hell! He _never _has hangovers!"

Usopp was asking way too many questions for Sanji's comfort.

"Tell me about it," he groaned, trying to act as normally as he would have usually done if nothing had happened the night before. "He was pissed out of his mind last night, he just started throwing clothes everywhere, the bastard, I'm surprised he didn't smash his head against a door. How many pints did you say he drank?"

Good acting there. He needed some good skills in that department if he had to compensate for Zoro's disastrous ones.

"Five. He had it coming, the idiot." Nami shrugged, half enjoying Zoro's suffering behind the bathroom's door. Sanji determined he had successfully erased any link between himself and Zoro's nudity in his nakamas' minds (if they had ever established one), which he almost sighed for.

"Need some help in there?" the redhead mockingly asked.

"Go the fuck awa-" the muffled response getting back to them was cut in half as more foretelling sounds got in the way of words.

"Oh, shit, he _really_ is fucked," Franky exclaimed, both eyebrows raised. He was equally as shocked as he was amused. This was a first and he (just the rest) would be lying if he said that he didn't find a bit of enjoyment in witnessing Zoro go through what normal people go through when they get drunk. He had always been able to annoy the shit out of the rest of his crewmates during those hellish first moments of the 'morning after', basically because he had never been in any position to be the one being fucked with, but today was the day none of them had thought would come: the day Roronoa Zoro joined the realm of the drunken mortals. What a day to be alive! Shouldn't they celebrate? Franky was already regretting not taking the opportunity to make Zoro's morning suck for real (yes, they were all that kind to each other), but hearing the sounds the greenhead was emitting through the door made him refrain himself. He didn't want to be puked over.

"We're going to be having lunch downstairs in about an hour, if you want to join us," Nami offered as she decidedly made her way towards the door. She'd had enough of hearing Zoro's dying whines. Franky and Usopp followed suit.

"Sure, darling. I'll be there, thanks- wait, _what_? Downstairs?"

He hadn't been let out of that damn room for ages; he always had his meals brought to him since Chopper didn't want him moving around.

"Doctor's allowance. You can now move around the hotel, but he'll tell you himself and specify his conditions as soon as he comes to do your checkup. He'll come at some point before lunch; take the chance to get Zoro checked as well and he might not die today."

Sanji blinked at Nami's back. Was he going to be allowed out of that room? For real? He thought he may cry in happiness.

Just that joy didn't last long as the thought hit him that he was alone with Zoro, again. Anxiety crept on him as last night's events ran through his head. They had been very presently embedded in his mind during his exchange with his nakama, but he had been too worried about the external effects it might have or what may show through for his crewmates to see as to worry about the actual weight of what had happened.

It had been so sudden, they had just woken up, tried to cover the remainders of what had been going on the night before, then Zoro was rushing inside the bathroom and that's all contact they had had so far. Now that he was alone with his thoughts and Zoro in the next room, he couldn't help but think about what the fuck he was supposed to say the moment the swordsman emerged from the bathroom. How would Zoro react? Would he even properly remember what had happened? By the way he had been covering himself and basically hiding like a child, he must have recalled something, but Zoro had been pretty fucked and Sanji could only hope some parts would at least be blurry for him to remember. It would be even greater if he didn't remember it at all. God, this was going to be awkward as fuck. How the fuck do you address your rival who just delivered his first blowjob to you out of a drunken urge the night before? He swore if the bastard tried to blame this on him, he would kick his face in! It's not like Sanji hadn't tried to get him to stop.

God, this was all so wrong.

Zoro would regret it for sure, and Sanji was not ready nor willing to stand an angsty 'damn, I fucked up' session right now. Not when he had been trying to warn him that he would regret it indeed.

Why was his life so difficult?

"Burn those down."

Despite the rising anxiousness, Sanji couldn't help but turn around with a mocking smirk. Zoro had just come out of the bathroom looking like shit; he had had the decency to wrap a towel around his hips to cover his nudity (thank God fancy hotels provided its guests with thousands of useless towels per day so that there was always one available to use) and he was currently standing with his last night's clothes held between his fingers as he glared _hard_ at the barrels that had just been placed in the room, hard enough to make one believe they might have insulted his mother.

Sanji's smirk was wiped away the moment he fixed his gaze on the clothes Zoro was carrying, a certain sense of dread invading him. "So you _did_ leave everything there," he groaned, all too aware of the risk they had gone through simply by having that mess laying on the bathroom's floor.

"It's not like you took care of it either. Your clothes are still there, your job to dispose of them, not mine," Zoro grumpily growled as he made his way towards the basket where they threw their clothes in for the hotel's staff to wash. "Can't we burn them down? Along with the barrels. They should be reduced to ashes for humanity's sake, I swear this is fucking hell."

"It's called hangover. It's what normal people go through while _you_ wake up like a rose after you down dozens of barrels of ale. A bitch to deal with, really, but karma needed you to experiment it at least once in your life, so yeah, deal with it and watch what you drink next time."

"You're an asshole."

"_What the fucking fuck!_"

It took a few seconds for Zoro to catch on to the fact that Sanji's outraged exclamation wasn't a response to Zoro's insult but an actual life-changing question with which the swordsman was about to be accused. Sanji had disappeared into the bathroom as they talked so it's not like Zoro knew what he was on about, but it didn't take long for him to find out.

"Do you think this is normal?!" Sanji screeched the moment he stomped back into the room, holding his sweatshirt's neck down for Zoro to be flashed with the most obnoxious mark he had seen in his life planted by Sanji's shoulder. _Oh._ So that's what Sanji was yelling about. He must've just assessed the actual damage inflicted by staring at himself in the mirror. What an image to be met with, really.

"_Wow_," he genuinely gaped, shocked that he had done something like that. Last time he checked he wasn't a cannibal, but hey, he'd seen weirder things. "Was it me who did this?"

"Are you fucking kidding me?! Who the fuck else do you think attacked me like a fucking caveman last night?!" Sanji kept on shrieking, his daily dose of patience already blown away for the day. "Chopper is going to come and inspect me or something, how am I supposed to hide this atrocity?!"

"Wait, _what_, Chopper is coming?! Didn't we tell them not to bring him here? Fuck, he is going to kill me!"

"That's not the point!"

"Stop yelling! Shit, my head is going to explode…" Zoro yelled and then whined as he covered his ears and let his ass fall on the mattress, his brain actually feeling like it was going to burst out of his ears.

"You are lame."

After that unmerciful statement, Sanji seemed to have some sympathy and grew silent. Zoro heard him shuffle around the room, probably getting rid of the remaining mess in the bathroom while Zoro tried to get a hold of himself so as not to puke his guts out on the carpet. Shit, why did people ever drink this much if they knew they were going to feel like this in the morning? This was an actual torture and Zoro was ready to get Sanji to knock him out with a kick in the face so that he would stop feeling pain all over his body.

His gaze raised the moment he heard Sanji's mattress creak, and he found the blonde sitting across him with his fingers intertwined on his knees as he observed the swordsman with a mix of frivolity and seriousness. He knew there were many things going through Sanji's mind, things he wasn't voicing out loud, things that came back to Zoro's brain the moment it started processing stuff again.

There was an unasked question in the air, an unspoken conversation waiting to be put into words, but doubt stood above them in the form of silence.

Which Zoro broke as soon as his stomach started twisting too hard for his own taste. He didn't want a nervous attack to trigger another throw up session, thank you very much, and the faster he got this started and over with the lesser chances he'd be taking.

"Okay, let's get this straight. Did I… like…" Zoro didn't seem to find suitable words not to make this awkward, but it had been awkward to start with, so he decided to fuck it. "Am I remembering the wrong things or did I blow you last night?"

Sanji grimaced at Zoro's choice of words, and he may have groaned an insult, but it was too low for Zoro to register. His body seemed to tense infinitely, only to relax the moment he sighed. Sanji unfolded his half bent body and went to hold his weight with his arms extending at his back, torso casually straightened for a change as he tried to appear calm and collected. "You did."

Zoro looked at him, blinking. He had been hoping Sanji would deny it. He had been hoping it had only been his hangover playing with him, but memories were vivid and Sanji's answer was clear as day. Sanji had also been hoping Zoro wouldn't remember. He didn't have such luck.

The blonde sighed. "I told you you would regret it."

Zoro scoffed. "You did."

Sanji felt a small pang in his chest. Something similar to disappointment, something that felt like deflating. He knew this would happen. Why had he let Zoro do what he did last night, again? Guilt started consuming him, but he didn't let it show through his blank stare directed at the swordsman as he tried to analyze him. What was he feeling like? Was he disgusted? Was he about to call it quits? That would be the best for both of them, if they were to be rational.

"I'm not about to blame it on you if that's what you're worried about. It was my own decision, I am aware of it" Zoro was fast to clarify, tone raspy and tired. Sanji preferred not to think about the reason why his voice sounded this worn out and used.

"That's gracious of you," he sarcastically jeered back.

Zoro rolled his eyes and decided he wouldn't be doing it again for the day, because the gesture had just gotten him dizzy.

"Fuck, this is horrible."

"Chopper will bring you pills or something and it will get better, don't worry too much," Sanji placated him with a scornful smirk. "You do look like shit."

"Fuck you very much."

Sanji grinned a bit, more out of habit than out of actual satisfaction. He felt like they were currently walking on ice, and he was inevitably nervous and weirdly dispirited at the way this was going. Zoro's reaction at having confirmed what he had done a few hours ago came as rather mild and neutral but not exactly nonchalant, which had the situation feeling weird and delicate since Sanji had no real way to know how Zoro was feeling about this.

"I don't want Chopper coming," Zoro weakly complained, face hidden behind his hands for stability. "He'll murder me and dance on my corpse."

Sanji barked a short breathy laugh at that. "Won't that bring me joy," he teased. "Come on, stop complaining, he'll give you a magic pill right after making you pay for your past and future mistakes, there's always a bright side."

"You're not making this better, stop talking, your stupid voice is making my headache worse."

"My foot meeting your teeth will do a better job at it, I can always arrange that."

Zoro proceeded to growl at him, but he didn't raise his head nor did he have the energy to formulate a retort.

"I need to cover the mess you made before Chopper comes in," Sanji sighed after a while, annoyed tone clear in his voice. "How the fuck am I supposed to hide this abomination? Were you even thinking or do you just not give a fuck?"

Zoro made an effort to ignore Sanji's jabs and accusations in favour of both sparing himself some embarrassment by not considering what he had done to the blonde's neck and avoiding an argument that would lead his head to kill him. Instead of answering, more out of actual guilt than anything else, he decided to be helpful and maybe get distracted from his misery in the process.

"Need any help?" he simply offered as Sanji stomped his way towards the bathroom to decide how to tackle the damage concealment with a scowl and a grumpy demeanor.

"No. You'll puke on me."

Zoro sighed, restrained the dizziness and stood up to follow the cook anyway. He found him staring at himself in the mirror with wide eyes, still trying to figure out how in the world someone could do that to his neck. That someone being Zoro.

"Staring at it won't make it evaporate."

"Shut up. This is all your fault."

Zoro restrained the urge to roll his eyes, which he already knew would do no good to him, and walked back to their wardrobe, where Chopper had graciously left some bandages for Sanji to change them if the reindeer wasn't around to do so. There were a few patches as well; Zoro did a double-take and decided to bring the box with him, putting it on the sink and staring at Sanji's reflection with a frown. The bathroom lights were too bright for his eye, which barely held itself open.

"I'll need more than one of those to cover it," Sanji grumbled.

"Then get started."

Zoro sat himself on the floor by the toilet as he felt the urge to throw up come back to him. He had the feeling that he wouldn't leave the bathroom for the next few hours and taking a spot by the toilet seemed like his best bet.

Sanji was cursing under his breath as he made a big patch out of a few normal-sized ones, plastering it against his skin and successfully hiding the bruise; not that the arrangement was discreet whatsoever. Chopper would still ask what the hell was under it and probably demand him to let him inspect it. He should start thinking of a way out other than kicking the reindeer away, and a good excuse would be brilliant if he just happened to find one.

"I'm not regretting the blowjob."

Sanji choked on his saliva and almost died asphyxiated in the process, his watery eyes flashing towards Zoro as if the swordsman had grown another head. Saying that he hadn't been expecting this would be a _huge_ understatement.

"What?"

"I'm not regretting the blowjob per se. I mean, sure it was embarrassing and whatnot, but it's fair game in our deal and I don't think I did a disastrous job out of it."

Sanji's stare only grew wider. What the fuck was Zoro going on about? He looked damn serious, if you put aside the general pained and dying expression he was pulling, but Sanji didn't understand why he was talking about this. He didn't understand why he was talking at all.

"I'm saying this because I can almost literally see your brain cells giving you shit over how you let me do something I might not have wanted to while being drunk," Zoro huffed as he registered Sanji's expression and realized the other wasn't understanding shit. "I wanted to. So stop acting like you did something wrong. The only thing I regret is how much of a fool I made myself look like; I do apologize for that, I would have kicked me in the face if I was you."

And he did regret it. He remembered pretty much everything he had been blurting out last night. He remembered the lame insistence, the begging, and the stupid one-sided determination that drove him to do things Sanji had possibly not initially wanted. He felt absolutely and irrevocably ashamed, and he could only try not to let it show too much, but he did realize how much of a problem his last night's loss of control was. He had been acting absolutely out of character, and he had shown a rather pathetic side of himself to the blonde, which only added more weight in the self-assault he had leaded against his own pride. It was him who had fucked up big time, not Sanji. As he had just said, it wasn't about the blowjob per se, that was just a potential part of the now sexual nature of some of their interactions that didn't need to be shamed whatsoever; the problem laid in the way he had dealt with the whole issue, drunk or not. Oh, God, he swore he'd never get drunk again in his life. Things like these couldn't happen ever again, Zoro couldn't let himself fall this low.

Sanji blinked at him a few more times, processing what Zoro had said. Well, Zoro was regretting shit indeed, but it turned out it had nothing to do with his interactions with Sanji. As much as the blowjob had decomposed Sanji's mind stability and driven him over the edge, the fact of delivering it wasn't Zoro's top priority in his things-to-regret list; and that, somehow, came as relieving news to Sanji, who had been feeling conflicted about letting Zoro do everything he had done when he knew the other was far from sober. Zoro had known what he had been doing and he wasn't regretting it. He was only regretting the means. Which Sanji would be dreading too if he had been in Zoro's place. If he had to be honest with himself, even more than the blowjob, what had unsettled him beyond belief had been the way Zoro had given up on his own pride to beg for Sanji to let him do it. That was what was eating his insides in a small uproar as the feeling that that wasn't the way things should work gnawed at him. Good thing was that Zoro had realized, which meant there probably wouldn't be a second time, and Sanji thanked that, because he swore he didn't know how to act when Zoro drove out of his lane by miles, which ended up in situations like last night's.

"You were drunk," he was fast to mutter, as if he needed to help Zoro justify himself.

"That makes it even lamer," Zoro grunted in distaste. His mouth tasted _bad_, and he was feeling thirsty as fuck.

Sanji couldn't help but smirk. "Can't not agree with that."

"You're not helping."

"Wasn't intending to."

"Are we okay, then?"

Sanji's heart bumped in his chest before stopping for a second and going back to a stable beating again. What was up with Zoro? It was such an unusual question to ask for him and, again, it had Sanji not knowing how to proceed.

"Uhm… yes, I guess," he answered with a smaller voice than he would've liked.

Then they heard violent knocking on the door and a very familiar voice demanding entrance.

"Chopper's here."

"_Fuck_."

"I swear to God, Zoro, if he sees this I'm going to murder you, fillet your corpse, grill it and dance on your ashes, you bastard," Sanji snarled while pointing at the hickey area before making his way out of the bathroom with an already pissed off mood. He knew what awaited them and he could no longer find joy in life at least until this hell was over. Chopper was going to murder them both.

Zoro scrunched his eyes when he heard the front door open.

"Where the fuck is that idiot?!"

Oh, well, Chopper was swearing. He was fucked.

"Vegetating in the bathroom. Please tell me you've brought a pill or something, I swear he's a deplorable sight to witness."

"I should have left him to drown in his own misery because he fucking asked for it, but yes, I have, I am this kind. Why the hell do I have to deal with this?! I told him not to mix his medicines with alcohol, but no, Roronoa Zoro is superior to anything and everything being ordered to him, isn't he!" he kept barking as he made his way towards Zoro's hiding spot only to pop his head in as he was pronouncing his last words. Their gazes met and Chopper's brows furrowed in anger. "You can't imagine how glad I am that you're feeling like shit. You _so_ deserve it."

"Those are some nice statements coming from a doctor," Sanji smirked by the doorframe, watching the scene with slight amusement. Pissed off or not, Zoro's suffering was his delight.

"Fuck you."

"I'm examining you right after, don't think you're getting out of this one just because your roommate is an idiot who needs a damn babysitter."

Sanji blinked at Chopper, then took a step back and closed the door behind him, leaving Zoro alone with their doctor.

Fuck his life.

* * *

A week later things had, once again, established themselves as something similar to a routine. They were four days away from leaving Terevera once and for all, which Zoro couldn't wait to do. It had taken longer than expected since repairing the ship had been slightly harder than Franky had originally assessed.

All in all, the Strawhats had kept attending parties; Luffy had won three tournaments and become the most popular fighting figure in the country for the month, which earned him free buffets pretty much everywhere; Nami had broken around a dozen of casinos; Sanji had been allowed to wander around for the day since he could do so without limping anymore; and Zoro had gone back to partying with the rest after having promised not to drink anything anymore and having found out, much to his own surprise given the hellish hangover he had experienced, that the promise had been a blatant lie.

Nami, kindly enough, had shown him how to properly drink Terevera's star drink, and Zoro discovered the pleasure of letting go of himself a bit in a comfortable kind of drunkenness that didn't involve puking his guts out the morning after or absolutely losing control of his actions. Sure it disinhibited him and made him more daring (as if he wasn't daring enough), but he didn't feel that sense of falling he had felt the first night as he watched, almost as if he was seeing everything from a 3rd person's point of view, how everything slipped out of his control.

Said comfortable state of drunkenness had led to a few more encounters with Sanji at shit o'clock at night.

Happily drunk Zoro wasn't the wasted Zoro who'd crawl his way inside Sanji's pants in the most humiliating way possible, but he definitely got turned on easier and initiated stuff he wouldn't have started otherwise. He had discovered that, if he pressed the right buttons and made it sound like a challenge to the blonde, Sanji would agree more often than not. The blowjob episode hadn't repeated itself again, as expected, and everything had been reduced to needy hand jobs here and there. It wasn't all on Zoro coming back to their room while tipsy, though; their usual arguments, which they couldn't exactly turn into a fight since Sanji's back would still give him shit if he was too rough, had also caused a few sparks igniting here and there.

It's not like they had been going at it like desperate bastards, it hadn't been more than four times (two while Zoro was drunk and two out of arguments), but that was more than enough in a week. How they had gone from awkward as fuck and fighting their urges away to completely giving in to them when it was safe to do so for the sake of quick release was an amazement in itself, but their encounters didn't lead to uncomfortable deep conversations in the morning anymore. They had settled for acting as if nothing had happened under the protection of the night and the silence of their room. It was easier that way. When the urge hit them, they wouldn't fry their brain cells to fight it away more than the minimum amount required; when morning came, they wouldn't strain their minds into discussing if they were on stable ground or not, they'd just go with it and maybe question the craziness of it all in the privacy of their heads for a moment before dismissing any complicated thoughts they came up with.

There was also the fact that Zoro's blowjob a week ago seemed to have had eased them into hand jobs, which now looked less intimidating; they felt like much less of a big deal. They hadn't done anything beyond that since taking it any step further would bring them back to unstable footing again, but staying right where they were was cutting it for now, perturbing them much less than it had initially done, which calmed their nerves a bit seeing as their deal wasn't an absolute disaster about to ruin everything they held dear anytime soon. They were both quite rational and collected, if you took away the mindfucks they had been going through for the past few months regarding their relationship, which meant that they could rationalize their actions in a way that felt slightly more comfortable for them, and so they did: as they had once agreed, release was release and they both needed a lot of it with Sanji having his mobility restricted and Zoro being constantly watched by Chopper, who would throw a tantrum every time he caught Zoro drinking, which made him feel slightly trapped.

Just that Zoro's train of rationalization had found way more obstacles than Sanji's, no matter how much he tried to play it off as if it wasn't a big deal. Where Sanji simply went with it when needed, Zoro had initiated all of their encounters, had even sought them when he had once started a fight for the only purpose to rile Sanji up and get him to play his game. In his defense, he had been having a shit day, met a lot of shitty people who had tried to take his head but were too weak for him to go all out on them, and so he had ended up frustrated and annoyed as fuck, snapping at the first thing Sanji said and starting an argument that ended with both of them on the floor, jerking each other off and almost getting Sanji's back to give in as Zoro pressed too hard against him and his healing wound interrupted what they were doing by getting Sanji to feel a heavy strike of pain, much to their dismay.

So, despite the fact that their deal had been slightly normalized, Zoro was angry at himself. Even though he had promised himself he wouldn't do such thing, he was keeping count in his head, and the fact that four out of four encounters (if he didn't add to the list the crotch-grabbing in a bathroom during the competition and his wasted begging for Sanji to let him suck him off) had been initiated by himself. Sure Sanji wasn't refusing, sure Sanji hadn't come back to their room in an elevated tipsy state like Zoro had started to do after every party ever since he had discovered the wonders of the good kind of drunkenness he had never experienced before; but Zoro hadn't been wasted nor incapable of controlling himself either. He had simply felt like seeking something else from the blonde and he had gone for it.

It shouldn't be that much of a mental struggle; that's what Zoro operated like, if he felt like doing something he'd chase it, end of the story. But, then again, Zoro's pride was picky and there were things that came as acceptable and others that came as questionable, and any out-of-the-usual interaction with the blonde had recently fallen in that second category. It's not like he felt compelled to stop it from happening and it's not like he was losing sleep over it anymore (ever since the blowjob incident he had decided to take things in a chiller way for his own mental health, which meant not entertaining unnecessary thoughts as to why shit happened; it was a step towards his obsession recovery), but that didn't keep him from feeling severely pissed off at his own lack of composure when it came to mundane things such as physical contact. He had never been needy, his head had never been placed in his dick (else he would've cut it off, he didn't need those distractions), but a spark turned into heated desire faster than blinking when it came to Sanji, and that realization had him in a moody state that ranged from 'frustrated', to 'anxious', to 'pissed off', to the always healthy 'you shouldn't give a fuck' philosophy.

And it's not even like he had been seeing Sanji every single hour of his day; that wasn't the case anymore. Ever since Sanji had been given a free pass to roam around the hotel, then the closest part of the neighborhood, and finally the market, he had almost lost track of the blonde. Sanji wasn't allowed into parties yet since Chopper feared he might pull a 'Zoro' and start drinking his life away when he was still on his medications (which was a weighty reason as to why Zoro's level of trash-drunkenness had been that high that first night), so it's not like he could run into the blonde during those events either.

For the most part, Sanji was away for the day. Zoro wouldn't say he was downright avoiding Zoro like the plague, but he was definitely putting active effort into not spending his 24h with him, which was rather sensible given how bad they had handled spending so much time together so far.

Okay, there had been this one time when Nami and Sanji had decided to start restocking their supplies so that they could do it bit by bit as opposed to buy everything in one go and risking missing some important items, and a pack mule had become a necessity. Zoro was _the_ pack mule, everybody knew that. Despite that, Sanji had picked Usopp and Chopper to help him out. He had half-assedly alleged that it's not like he cared about what happened to the swordsman but he felt compelled to not pick him, as much as he'd like to annoy him, since Chopper would murder him if his health went back to being shit. And, really, it was a plausible justification, not that he needed any to begin with; Sanji could do whatever the hell he pleased without Zoro being a drama queen about it. He wouldn't have insisted for Sanji to get him to help him instead either; Zoro hated playing pack mule and he was still thanking his lucky stars he hadn't been the poor soul to carry that burden for a change.

However, the feeling still hovered in the air that Sanji wasn't about to push Zoro aside, but he wasn't going to allow his every move to revolve around him either if he could avoid it, which is why he was putting some needed distance where it should have been if they didn't want things to be muddy. To be fair, it kind of bugged Zoro a bit, but it didn't get to the point where the thought would hit him at unexpected times or make him wonder 'why'. It wasn't that big of a deal. Sanji hadn't stopped talking to him, neither had he stopped arguing with him like they used to (with the recent addition of a different kind of ending to their arguments that would spice things up because, why not), and it's not like he was going out of his way to get the hell away from the greenhead. He had simply taken the allowance he had to not make their lives revolve around each other; _that_'s what Sanji was clearly avoiding. There wasn't a need to be dramatic about it (much less when certain interactions ended the convenient way they did), but there wasn't any need to abuse it either. Some healthy distance would do the trick as long as both of them understood what this was about and didn't take it too personally.

Plus, Sanji needed to be away from that room like he needed air; he wasn't made to be locked between four walls, and Zoro could relate to him 120% when it came to that. It's not like Zoro stayed in either, he'd go for walks that ended up being longer than normal due to him getting lost or/and crashing the first pub he found in his way. All in all, they had gone from spending all of their time together to grasping a breather, which they were grateful for.

The thing, though, is that Zoro should've been ecstatic about it, yet he wasn't. He felt relieved that he had finally gotten back some space, but he also found himself getting rather impatient when he came back to their shared room and Sanji wasn't there when, maybe, it was time for him to be back already. He had gotten used to having him in his face, now he was out more often than not, and it was just weird, because where he expected his blonde mane to frame a scowl coming his way, he found an empty bed and an even emptier room.

That's what had him scowling more often than not. It's not like he was terribly missing the blonde, God, _no_, but it did take a bit of getting used to not having him there. Anxiousness didn't really leave him until he saw him come back, even if it was mild and almost imperceptible. When he did see Sanji, they'd argue like they always did, either playfully or viciously so depending on the topic and their mood, but they had managed to reduce awkwardness consistently. It always came back the moment an argument was left half-hanging, which was the deciding point in which they'd opt to drop it or ravage each other's mouth, also depending on the mood. Zoro's main problem laid in the fact that it had come to the point where, 80% of the times, he was hit with the urge to do the latter. Which was his second reason to be angry at his own stupidity. He needed to control his urges, because it's not like Sanji was up for it as often as he was (they had come to do stuff four times _only_ because Sanji had rejected a few other advances), and that was a problem not only for his dick but also for his pride.

A problem he was currently facing.

"Zoro, chill. We're not doing anything; consider yourself informed."

Zoro snapped out of his trance as soon as he heard Sanji's almost bored voice break the silence. _What the fuck._ There was some scary telepathy going on, really. That or Zoro's lack of subtlety hadn't done anything to conceal the way he had been ogling the blonde for a while now, his intentions more than probably written all over his face as his thoughts went on and on.

As many other nights, it was four o'clock at night and he had just come back from a party God knows where, alcohol still pushing his urges forward and his body feeling horny as fuck as if to mock him and his musings.

"Wasn't planning to," he groaned defensively in an attempt to save his dignity.

"Liar."

Zoro frowned. He didn't like the way Sanji knew what Zoro was thinking. That was his own business, not the blonde's. Well, that's not exactly accurate, not when his thoughts went in the line of how to get into the cook's pants again, but that's just a small detail he could overlook in his overall consideration of what was fair and what wasn't.

Resuming his mental rant, he was, as it had already been established about a thousand times in his head, pissed off. Not as much at the blonde as he was at himself. He had always been perfectly capable of restraining his urges to the point where people would assume that he was asexual, emotionless, demonic, unwavering and whatnot; he was capable of reducing them to a minimum level he chose to free or not whenever he wanted to, rarely overpowered by them, always in control of his shit. Nowadays he just seemed to have lost that ability. He hadn't been training these many years for this, damn it!

But here he was, not able to control himself around Sanji, being betrayed by his dick more often than not around him, thinking too often about him, and definitely thinking _a lot_ about what was inside Sanji's pants and what he could do with it, which was nothing like him _at all_. He remembered having something called self-restraint, but it apparently burned to ashes a while ago. Which frustrated him, because Sanji seemed to be taking this in a much chiller way than he was. Granted he hadn't been ogling and analyzing Zoro's every movement for months now, which Zoro had been doing and might be a reason why he had developed this fucked up obsession with the blonde, _maybe_, but it still pissed Zoro off that the bastard handled it better than him; that he remained the most composed one out of the two while Zoro's brain was currently conjuring images of their encounters and prodded him to seek more of those in a pattern that started to feel familiar.

Encounters whose repetition Sanji wasn't granting at the moment, which became openly apparent when his voice broke the silence yet again.

"Zoro, _no_."

Zoro glared at him harder than he should've, mainly because he was embarrassed of the way he was acting like a needy bastard in front of the blonde, who could very well use that behavior of his as a mocking weapon against him if he very well wanted. Either he was too tired or not interested in doing so, though, because Sanji merely looked at him pointedly and went back to staring at the ceiling in silence instead of mocking him.

It had been a fair warning.

And he was mostly right. They could hardly do a damn thing with Sanji's condition being the one it was. Well, they could, they were stubborn like that and they had done it before, but last time they had almost fucked up Sanji's back, which meant that their possibilities were limited. The fact that a hand job felt like not a lot in Zoro's brain should've worried him, as it should have the fact that he was entertaining other possibilities related to Sanji's dick and what he could do with it, but he couldn't get passed the frustration he was feeling right now as he watched the blonde sprawled in his bed, looking nonchalant as fuck.

"We said we'd help each other when we're stressed, not that we would be going at it like fucking rabbits at every chance we got, may I remind you," Sanji spoke again, knowing full well that Zoro's brain was still stuck in whatever thought he had been entertaining all along if the predatory look he was sending his way was anything to go by, even though he had never voiced such thoughts out loud. Yet.

Zoro huffed.

"Well, I _am_ kind of stressed."

Which was true. Okay, not stressed, really, just a bit too tipsy. More than stressed he was restless and ready to get the bugging feeling of arousal out of his organism, which his brain could only picture doing through fooling around with Sanji, apparently, but he still felt the frustration of having to hold back crawling inside him.

"And I'm kind of injured."

Well, that was also _decidedly_ true. And weighed far more than Zoro's irrational urges, to be fair.

"Whatever, good night," Zoro forced out with a scowl as he tugged himself in his bed with more aggressive movements than really needed. He was _definitely_ not disappointed and he was _especially_ _not_ pouting. Whoever dared say the contrary could go fuck themselves.

"You're a brat."

"Who doubles your size."

"I think we already established I was bigger."

"I wasn't fucking referring to _that_ kind of size and you're not fucking bigger!" Zoro snapped with a death glare directed at him.

Sanji was smirking a bit, slightly amused.

"There's a bathroom there if you feel like little marimo needs some attention to get rid of the edge. You look tense; _learn some fucking self-restraint_."

"I'm going to kill you."

"Empty threats are not fun," Sanji mock pouted.

"Want to check if my fist is an empty threat?"

"Zoro, I really need to sleep, and you just woke me up by being a loud clumsy drunken bastard and hitting your face against the door, which was painfully lame, by the way. I am being nice and not kicking your ass for it, so fucking shut up and let me sleep already… And do yourself a favour and keep it in your pants. Good night."

Zoro swore he was going to murder the blonde one of these days. Why had he felt anything but blessed that Sanji was gone for most of the day, again?

* * *

When he woke up the morning after (more like at noon) and Sanji wasn't there, Zoro wasn't exactly surprised, but he still found himself frowning.

Intent on not sparing the blonde further thoughts since he was still angry and embarrassed as fuck about last night, Zoro started his day by engaging a much needed training routine he had been half-assing too much lately. No excuse justified leaving his training as anything but his first concern, so he made up for it tenfold and pushed himself to his furthest limits until his body gave in and he felt more than ready for some lunch and a shower.

Showering was fast, since he was hungry and not really interested in smelling like a bouquet of roses, so he found himself downstairs in the blink of an eye, hair still wet. Most of his nakama were already arranging a big table for all of them, Luffy being kept in place by several of Robin's arms as a preventive measure.

They all gave each other sleepy good mornings and went to grab their food, taking seat and quickly engaging conversation. Usopp was trying to put together some of last night's events since he apparently had too much to drink and had his memory falling into blank spaces. He screeched when someone reminded him of something embarrassing he had done.

"Where's Sanji, by the way?" Brook asked at some point.

Good question. Zoro would be lying if he attempted to claim that he hadn't noticed his absence from the moment he had entered the restaurant, but he'd be damned if he started showing concern or curiosity about his whereabouts in front of his crewmates.

"I think he paid a visit to the twins again," Nami absently answered as she served herself some toasts and scrambled eggs. "He's probably having lunch with them or something."

Wait. What?

"_What?_"

So much for not showing concern or curiosity. Zoro was now looking at Nami as if she had grown a second head, his eye wide open and his expression one of disbelief. Quite an exaggerate reaction for someone who intended to pretend he didn't give a fuck about the blonde.

"What do you mean 'what'?"

"I mean exactly that. What's that idiot doing visiting the twins? Doesn't he remember they almost got him killed? And what the hell do you mean 'again'? Has he been there more than once?"

He wasn't helping his case, really.

"Oh my God, Zoro, _chill_," Nami exclaimed, surprised as the others that Zoro was taking it _this_ bad. There were no traces of him freaking out, to be fair, but it was more than obvious that the information had pissed him off big time. "He's a grown man, he can do what he wants. Did you expect him to hold a grudge against Aila? I'd be more surprised if he didn't propose to her. And, anyways, none of their encounters have ended up with him wounded or anything; they seem to be on good terms."

"What the fuck."

"Sanji asked me to pay them a visit a few days ago," Chopper intervened, his attention more focused on keeping Luffy from stealing his food than on the subject at hand. Hadn't he felt the need to appease Zoro he wouldn't even have engaged in the conversation. "I checked on them and they were still in a pretty bad condition, but it looks like my medicines have made the healing process way faster. They are nice, to be honest. They even praised my skills, the shitty bastards! How dare they!"

"They are most certainly _not_ nice," Zoro grumbled, his mood buried teen feet underground. "Aila can read your mind, that's fucking creepy. The cook almost died and they didn't seem to give a fuck, that's how nice they are."

"Come on, Zoro, I also talked to them and they are pretty cool!" Luffy defended. Zoro barely understood him since his mouth was full and spilling food as he talked. "Sanji thinks so as well and he was the one about to die; you should get over it as well. No one suffered irreparable damage, we're all cool."

Zoro couldn't believe it. What was with all of them? Why was he always the one to appear like the heartless bastard who had no sympathy for anyone when he was merely holding perfectly justifiable mistrust against people who deserved it? Why was his crew so careless? And what the fuck did Sanji think he was doing? Where Zoro had thought he spent the entirety of his days in the market or wandering around looking for new recipes, it turns out Sanji had been visiting the twins repeated times, and he had never mentioned a word about it to Zoro while the rest of the crew knew.

What was that about?

Well, it's not like they knew _a lot_, they were just guessing Sanji was there again and the only reason the crew was informed of Sanji's whereabouts as a whole was probably because Chopper had spilled the beans the moment Sanji had asked him to help the siblings, seeing as Terevera's doctors weren't worth shit. Luffy was a separate case; he had probably visited them on his own accord to fangirl over how cool their powers were since the raven haired boy didn't seem to know what holding a grudge meant.

But what was with Sanji not even _mentioning_ his visits to Zoro? He had fought alongside the cook, he had struggled as much as him against them. The more he thought about it, the weirder it became. It made sense for Sanji, being the stupid knight he thought he was, to approach Aila and apologize for the harsh treatment; but turning his visits into a routine was plain weird. Aila was the first woman Zoro had seen Sanji not swooning over, she was the first woman whom Sanji had tried to avoid, yet there he was, spending more time with her and her brother than he probably spent with Zoro. Not that he was jealous, that was just stupid, but it just didn't make sense. Much less with it being done at his back.

Zoro frowned, ignoring his crewmates' jabs about how he should take a chill pill and get off Sanji's back. He didn't like this. Why had he been the only one not to know? Did Sanji think he'd start flipping shit and screaming bloody hell at him? To be honest, he would've probably done so had the news come from Sanji's mouth. Maybe that's what Sanji was avoiding. He somehow knew or intuited how badly Sanji's close call had affected the greenhead; he somehow sensed how Zoro didn't want to hear shit about the twins after what they had done to the blonde, and that's why he preferred not to bring the subject up, if only to avoid confrontation, but that wasn't Sanji's style either… or was it? Was he so reluctant to find out what Zoro's reaction would be that he didn't even want to bring it up?

He came to the conclusion that he should stop overthinking. Zoro wasn't the cook's mum nor his husband, and he was most certainly not allowed to get angry at the fact that Sanji wouldn't tell him where he was 24/7, even though he couldn't bat away the feeling that there was something else behind Sanji's weird behavior. But it wasn't his place to question it. And so he decided to stop doing so and eat his damn food; he had embarrassed himself enough for the day.

"By the way, we have been invited to a huge party in Terevera's Royal Palace," Nami informed them like the diligent manager she had appointed herself to be. "Tomorrow night."

"What? Do you mean with the _king_?" Usopp gaped.

Zoro's attention went back to the conversation, eyebrow raised.

"Yes. He wants to throw one in both Sanji and Zoro's honor, and Luffy's, since they have been the indisputable champions of the most important tournaments these past weeks. I have a feeling that he wanted it to take place before, but he's been waiting until Sanji could attend."

"That's gracious of him," Robin smiled.

"Yes, he's been really nice about it," Nami agreed.

"Wait, have you met him?" Franky cut in, eyes wide.

"No, one of his escorts handed me a letter he had written for us, but he sounds like a cool man."

"Oh, that's great! I do like these kinds of kings!" Luffy grinned.

"You'd like anyone who'd offer you a meal, Luffy, don't pretend not to be cheap," Usopp elbowed him.

Zoro barked a laugh and went back to eating, his mood appeased.

"Will Sanji be able to attend tomorrow, then?" Nami asked Chopper, her tone pressing.

The reindeer rolled his eyes in defeat. "I guess. As long as he doesn't drink too much…"

"Great! It's official, then! We're attending a royal party tomorrow!" Nami singsonged, looking happy as fuck. Zoro had the feeling that some pockets would come back home emptier by the end of the event, the Strawhats' filling in consequence. Nami's obsession was scary, reall- he deadpanned for a second.

He was one to talk.

* * *

Evening came and there was still no trace of Sanji. Zoro's mood was slightly sourer, but his thoughts weren't revolving around him, which he felt proud of. Hadn't he known that one of Sanji's possible locations was by the twins' side, he would have been absolutely fine and probably not giving him the slightest thought by now.

They had had dinner together and were chilling in their rooms for a change. Since the big party was tomorrow, they had decided to rest tonight. Usopp and Chopper had come to Zoro's room to play cards on his bed as they downed a moderate amount of alcohol to spice things up, and Usopp was currently being accused of cheating by Chopper, who was outraged as he had ever been since he had been about to win this one.

"Can I join?"

Zoro turned around to see Luffy peeking through the half open door, a frown in place as he realized he had been abandoned while the rest had fun without him. He'd never stop being a child.

"It's a chill game, do you know what that means?" Usopp stated as he motioned for Luffy to get closer. He hooked an arm around his shoulder so that he'd sit beside him. "No trashing the place; no throwing punches in the air every time you think you've won, especially when you haven't; no strangling the person by your side and no yelling like a madman. How does that sound?"

"Boring."

"Don't be a brat."

And so they resumed the game, which was slowly heating up as Luffy lost control of himself and started doing the exact things Usopp had banned him from doing.

He was halfway through strangling Usopp out of sheer excitement at thinking that he had won (when he was in fact losing by a mile), when their 'peace' was broken by a loud siren ringing above their heads, making them all jump in place and almost grow deaf.

"What the fuck?!"

Zoro was fast to stand up and gather his swords, which had been allowed into his room again since his condition was finally good enough for Chopper to let him play with his weapons, adopting a defensive stance the moment he grabbed them.

Damn, that was _loud_. It was the kind of noise that meant bad news.

"What's going on?" he heard Chopper say.

Usopp was fast to flee the room and barge into his to get his weapons ready, just in case.

It took about one minute and the noise not relenting for Zoro to walk into the corridor, only to find his crewmates along with other hotel's guests doing the exact same, confused expression in their faces.

He approached Nami and had to get close to her ear for her to hear him. "Any idea what's going on?"

Nami shook her head emphatically, frown in place. "No clue. But it doesn't sound like a festive bell."

"More like the opposite," Zoro grumbled in agreement.

"Let's go downstairs, we may be able to gather some information," Robin suggested, to which everyone nodded and followed suit.

It didn't take long for them to bump into Charlie, a member of the staff who had been taking care of their rooms diligently ever since they had registered in the hotel. She looked frankly scared, but let out a huff as soon as she saw them.

"I was looking for you," she announced as she got a hold of Usopp's arm and guided him and the rest into an empty hotel room on the second floor, where they currently were.

"What's this all about?" Nami was fast to ask. She and Charlie had gotten along pretty well from the start, and they shared enough trust as for neither of them to dance around the subject.

"It's all a rumor for now since the emergency siren has been only ringing for about six or seven minutes, but it's being spread around that the Royal Palace was under attack just now. This bell means that a state of emergency has been declared; which means that everyone is compelled to go home and leave the streets."

"Wait, what? The Royal Palace? Damn, _no_, there was a feast waiting for me tomorrow night, who the hell is trying to boycott that?! I'll kick their asses!" Luffy snapped the moment he foresaw his banquet being jeopardized. "Okay, Strawhats, let's get to work, whoever has dared to threaten peace _and my meal_ in this country needs their ass kicked."

There wasn't much more to it, they all knew they were going to get involved the moment the bell rang. It's not like they were going to let someone attack the king and stay with their arms crossed as the citizens fared on their own. Much less when Luffy's feast was at stake.

Zoro sighed. So much for a chill night.

Luffy was already heading towards the door (thank the hotel's lucky stars he hadn't decided to crash his way out of the window or/and the wall), when Charlie took a few quick steps forward and stopped him in his tracks with more strength than he had initially thought she packed.

"I wouldn't do so if I were you."

Luffy raised an eyebrow at her, much like the rest of the crew, who now were looking at the small woman in confusion.

"Why not? They need our help."

"Because there's also this other rumor… It hasn't been confirmed yet, but if it's true, and it's looking like it might be…"

"What? Get to the point," Zoro groaned, already impatient to have some action. He hadn't fought in a while, if he thought about it, and the idea wasn't the least bit displeasing.

"People are saying it's one of the Strawhats who attacked the palace."

_What?_

Zoro felt a deepening sense of dread fillling his insides, his stomach dropping at the twist the events had just taken in less than five minutes.

"What? We were all here, there's no way we could have-" Nami stopped herself midsentence, her eyes widening as realization hit her just as it hit the rest right after confusion flooded in.

All of them were there. All of them except for someone who had been missing since morning.

Zoro's chest constricted as he shared a disbelieving stare with Luffy, who seemed as confused as he was.

"Some are describing him as blonde," Charlie kept adding, unsurely.

Zoro let his gaze travel around the rest of his nakama, trying to look for some kind of determination left in them, but they had all lost it as they stared at each other in shock. Whatever they had been planning on doing had burned down to ashes by now, an unasked question hanging heavily in the air above their heads.

_What the fuck was Sanji doing?_

**TBC**

* * *

**A/N: **Okay, so this was out way faster than I had expected! It wasn't even started by the time I published the last one but I guess I was inspired, which I am happy about! I know it usually takes me longer to update and I want to thank you for your patience! Also, thank you for all your kind comments and for taking the time to read and/or comment this, it really motivates me, and I am really grateful for that! That being said, I hope you have enjoyed this chapter! Have a nice weekend!


	37. Chapter 37 - Distraction

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* * *

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**Chapter 37**

**Distraction**

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"Are you sure it's Sanji?" Nami tentatively asked, eyebrows furrowed. The situation had turned delicate enough as for her voice not to sound too demanding.

Sanji was no stranger to acting according to his own agenda while leaving the rest of the crew cluelessly waiting in the bleachers, but engaging an attack against the ruler of a country without at least giving them a fair warning wasn't the smartest of ideas either, which had them all feeling confused, at the very least.

"I honestly don't know, I am just informing you of the general rumor going around. It hasn't even been that long since it happened so there's nothing confirmed yet," Charlie muttered in a nervous manner.

"I do have a feeling that it might be Sanji," Luffy spoke, expression serious but not necessarily overly concerned.

"Why, though?" Franky wondered.

Zoro scoffed as he felt a flare of anger escalating his gut. "Wanna bet it has something to do with the twins?"

"What is your problem with those two? Give them a break," Usopp reprimanded him. It's not like he held any particular kind of sympathy towards the siblings, but it was painfully obvious how fixated Zoro was on assuming all the world's misfortune was on them, and that wasn't a clever way to go about it. They needed a cold head and zero prejudices. They didn't even know if it was Sanji who was causing ruckus. As much as he thought about it, he couldn't pinpoint a reason as to why the blonde would attack the Royal Palace.

"Whatever, Sanji will have to explain this to me as soon as he comes back," Luffy grumbled. "He better have a good reason for kicking the ass of the hand that feeds me. Else I'm kicking his ass for it."

"You do realize _Sanji_ is the hand that puts up with feeding you 95% of the time, right?" Nami snapped in with a disbelieving eyebrow raised.

"He must have a reason," Robin intervened. "If it is him indeed, then there's something fueling the attack, we all know Sanji doesn't act on his plans unless there's a solid reason behind them."

"Why wouldn't he tell us though?"

Robin shrugged. Zoro was already feeling a headache forming. The bastard. What the fuck was he doing?

"Look, I understand your confusion but you can try to figure this out somewhere else," Charlie butted in, frown in place. "It's irrelevant if the rumor is correct or fake, the fact is that it's running around, which means you have about two minutes before guards barge in here looking for you: they know where you're staying at."

"Your point?" Usopp frowned.

"She's kicking us out of here," Zoro translated.

"Indeed. You need to get out of this hotel, and fast. Want some piece of advice?"

"Why would you help us? There's a high possibility that one of us has attempted to harm your king," Robin demanded, suspicious tone obvious in her voice.

"I have my reasons and not that much time. Want that piece of advice or not?"

"Yes," Nami was fast to prod. She didn't doubt her crewmates' capacity to reduce any attacker to a bloody pulp the moment they tried something, but she knew when fleeing was her best handful to play with.

Charlie was fast to write something down on a small piece of paper and hand it to the redhead.

"This is my grandmother's home address. Try to get there and ask for shelter. If she asks who you are tell her Odette has sent you in."

"Odette?"

"My mum's name. She died a few years ago; her name is our password whenever we need to… accommodate guests."

"I take it you've done it before. Not that much of a Crown supporter?" Zoro commented with a raised eyebrow.

Charlie had the guts to ignore him.

"Be fast about it."

"Okay, so we get there. Then what?" Usopp asked.

"I don't know. Wait for confirmation, try to figure out what's going on and decide yourselves, that's the best I can give you. Try not to let yourselves be followed, I do appreciate my grandmother's life and she'll only be putting up with this because I have deemed you deserve a chance. Don't make me regret it."

"How do we know it's not a trap?"

Charlie gave a defiant look at Robin, then shrugged. "You don't. But it's not. If it's not your crewmate who's causing this mess then you don't deserve to be pursued for those crimes. If it is… well, I can't say I am opposed to it; might as well lend you a hand. Are you taking this or not?"

Nami nodded and started pushing Luffy and the rest towards the window facing the back gardens. "We are. Thanks, Charlie. Come on, get your asses moving, we need to get out of here!"

"I have a bad feeling about this," Chopper muttered with a frown. Zoro lifted him up and handed him to Luffy, who was already prepared to jump down two storeys and to the ground. The reindeer only realized what was going on when Luffy had already jumped, and Zoro scowled as he heard him scream, determining that that wasn't the most discreet way to go about a secret escape. Damn it, he was pissed off. This was all confusing, and he could only agree with their doctor's statement. There was something off.

"You better not be shitting with us," he threatened as he glared at Charlie. He hadn't had that much contact with her so far. He had shared a few good mornings whenever she came in to clean their rooms, but that was about it given the fact that he had been grounded in his room for ages. His nakama had established something similar to friendship with her, especially Nami, but that was no guarantee whatsoever of her trustworthiness.

"I am not," she stubbornly bit back, looking rather offended that Zoro was putting her precious help to doubt.

They heard ruckus downstairs and both their gazes snapped towards the door.

"They are coming," she whispered, more out of self-consciousness than out of actual need to do so since everything around them was loud enough to engulf the sound of a normal conversation.

"Hurry up," Zoro pressed, seeing as Robin, Franky and Brook still needed to get out. Luffy had apparently stretched and already brought the others' down with him. Zoro watched as rubber arms appeared out of nowhere by the windowpane and wrapped themselves around Robin, who didn't emit a sound as she was dragged down to the floor with a snap.

Now, Brook and Franky would be a problem; it's not like they fit through the window.

The problem was solved as soon as Franky bombed the exterior wall, making the whole building tremble in shock and leaving a huge gap right where there had been solid façade.

"Tell your boss I'm sorry," he grinned as he turned around to apologize to a gaping Charlie right before jumping off followed by Brook.

Zoro sighed. So much for discretion.

He didn't spare the girl a glance as he jumped right after them only to be caught by Luffy's arms by surprise. He had planned on jumping on his own, it's not like two floors were a challenge to him, but his captain had decided he needed a hand and so he had given him a literal one, yanking him down at alarming retreating speed and making him face-plant against the floor. He swore he was going to kill him. _He would._

* * *

It took them a while to find the place since they tried to avoid crowded areas at the best of their efforts, which was difficult given how much hysterical people tend to unfollow orders and were running around the streets in panic instead of staying at home.

By the time they got there it was dark and panic around the city could be breathed in the air. Zoro's mood was foul and he swore he was going to kick Sanji's ass if he had indeed caused this chaos and figuratively yanked him out of the comfortableness of his bed, his cards and his booze. He didn't mind a good fight, he craved it even, but driving a whole kingdom into chaos and dragging the crew right in the middle of it by fucking acting on his own was a whole different thing.

He didn't register Nami knocking on the door Charlie had written down, he only came back to what was physically going on when an aged woman with greyish hair opened it with a wary stance.

"What do you need?"

Her tone was not exactly inviting, nor were her eyes. She was clearly old, but something in her gaze told them that she was not to be taken lightly, grandma or not.

"Odette sent us," Nami firmly answered, looking into the woman's eyes for confirmation. There was a spark behind them, then the door was being pulled fully open as she silently and hurriedly let them in, locking it right after and closing the curtains as they stared around what seemed to be a combined living room/dining room/ and kitchen.

"Who sent you?" asked the woman as she made it to the countertop and casually held a cooking knife between her folded arms. The question clearly demanded something else than 'Odette' as an answer.

"Charlie. Your granddaughter, I believe. She told us to go by her mother's name when we met you," Nami explained, alert.

"She told us you'd give us shelter. Did she lie?" Franky added non-too-shyly. The man was curt and direct when he needed to, and they needed to establish firm ground fast if they didn't want to be at each other's throats the next second someone spoke.

The woman sighed.

"No, she wasn't lying. Why does she always send me trouble?" she grumbled, letting the knife down but not far away from her. "My name's Eva, make yourselves at home."

There was a row of thank yous all around the group as they started picking chairs or assigning themselves a place in the sofa, tension still visible but clearly dissipating.

"Thanks ma'am, that's cool of you," Luffy grinned. He hadn't looked worried for a moment, he couldn't feel more like at home. "Will you also offer us food?"

"No. Do you have anything to do with the ruckus outside? Something about the king being directly attacked?"

Straight to the point. Zoro started to like that woman.

"We are not sure," Chopper mumbled.

Eva raised an eyebrow. "How can you not be sure about having attacked the king? Have you or have you not?"

She didn't seem fazed by the presence of a reindeer, a talking skeleton and a cyborg in the room as long as they didn't break stuff, and so she didn't keep herself from being harsh. Which Zoro also liked. It's not like she had ignored them; she kept sending wary glances at the trio, but she hadn't even bothered to ask where the hell those specimens came from nor did she seem all that interested at all.

"It may have been one of our crewmates, but we haven't had it confirmed yet. We haven't seen him since this morning, so it's a bit difficult for us to assess the situation at the moment," Nami clarified.

"Are you pirates?"

"…yes."

"You're actually meeting the future King of Pirates over here!" Luffy grinned, getting into her personal space and offering her a hand like he was offering an autograph.

"That's bullshit. How do you know Charlie and why did she send you here?"

Luffy dropped his hand and pouted.

"She works in the hotel we were staying in," Robin explained. "She came to find us when the alarm started ringing and told us what she knew about the situation. We still don't know up to what extent we are involved in this situation, but the rumor is spreading and she deemed it safer to send us here while we try to gather what's going on."

"Someone's shitting with the Crown, that's what's going on," Eva grumbled as she let herself fall on a chair in quite an unladylike manner. Her scowl would be able to compete with Zoro's trademark one without much effort. "You say you don't have a clue if it's your friend or not who has started this?"

"No."

"Why didn't he tell you? Aren't you crewmates?"

"Well, there goes the question of the century," Zoro huffed. His mood was shit right now. He kind of wished Sanji was here so that he could punch him in the face. "He never tells us shit. Always acting on his own."

"You, the greenhead over there. Are you on your period? That sounded bitter as hell."

Zoro spluttered on his own saliva. He took every single one of his considerations back. That woman was a witch. Luffy fell into high pitched streak of laughter along with Brook, adding to Zoro's utter embarrassment.

"They are always like this, but don't worry, they're good friends," Luffy snickered, waving away the accusation for Zoro.

"Friends my ass!"

"I don't care if they are friends or married with five kids, I want you all to pay some attention," Eva snapped, clearly not in the mood for jokes. Zoro sent her the most heart-felt outraged glare he had ever thrown in his life, but she ignored him. "Look, my home is not a free shelter. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt since my granddaughter has sent you herself, but I'll only let you stay until this is cleared up. If it's your crewmate who's responsible for this, then I'm getting some good sake out for everyone to cheer with and I'm putting my house to your service, but if it turns out he isn't, then I'll have to kick you out; there's other people who may need me tonight. Is that clear?"

Franky raised both eyebrows and shared a look with Robin.

"What's your problem with the king?" Luffy blurted, voice slightly indignant. "He's a cool man, he offered us food!"

Eva sent him an unimpressed look. "Is this whiz the one in charge to mop the deck?"

"What does whiz mean?"

"Nah, he's the captain," Nami sighed, ignoring Luffy's question for good.

"And just _how _have you gotten this far in the New World with him on the lead?"

Usopp let out a small laugh at that. Zoro would have humored the comment with a smirk hadn't he been absolutely and irrevocably offended to death by that woman's sharp tongue.

"Luffy held a point, though," Brook butted in, polite as always. He was fidgeting with his bony hands, more out of his ponderings than out of nervousness. "You do hold a grudge against the king, which there must be a reason for. Given the fact that we don't have a clue why Sanji would have attacked him, if he has, it may help us to understand things if you'd clarify that."

"Clarify what?"

"Clarify why. Is there any reason why starting a war against the Crown would grant us VIP treatment in your house?" Zoro groaned, rolling his eyes at her stubbornness. She sure liked to play hard to get.

"Yes, there is."

They all waited for her to elaborate, but the words they were expecting never came their way. Instead, she stood up with a sigh and pushed her knife further away. "It's none of your business. I'm not about to tell you some sob-story so that you can take pity on me. Any one fancying tea, perhaps?"

There were a few raised hands and a single foreseeable voice breaking the silence. "What about food? Won't you offer us some food?"

"No."

* * *

Twenty minutes and a long set of tense awaiting silence later, Eva was coming back home after having left to pay a visit to her neighbor in order to try to gather some information for them.

"It's pretty much official: the king declared war to the Strawhat's crew a few minutes ago. You are all being persecuted. If that isn't self-explanatory I don't know what is."

There were a few sighs and groans, except for Luffy, who looked like he couldn't care less, but there wasn't a huge element of surprise hitting them either; more like a confirmation of something they'd rather not hear.

"What was Sanji thinking?" Nami muttered against her hand, eyebrows furrowed in irritation.

Zoro's stomach had just slightly twisted, but it went back to a calm state as an overall pissed-off vibe took over him. He _knew it_ already, but the fact that he had just had it confirmed and that Sanji was nowhere to be seen infuriated him enough as to start angrily tapping his foot against the floor, trying his best not to bother the rest of the crew with his shitty mood, seeing as everyone was starting to feel stressed. Not that much at the situation at hand or at the fact that they had just learned that they were now enemies of the Crown and thus preys of its army, but at the fact that they still didn't know what this was about. Sanji hadn't given them a heads up and they had no way to know what had been going through his mind nor what had motivated him to do so, nor if he was safe or not. That's what had them sitting there in awkward silence instead of causing havoc around the city in an attempt to flee, or fight back, whatever it was. The Strawhats didn't fight for no reason. They could fight for pretty stupid reasons, true, but they weren't as reckless as to throw themselves out there without knowing what they were doing it for.

"Any news about him being caught or something?" Zoro found himself asking in a tense tone.

"There's a lot of rumors regarding that. I've heard someone say he has been captured, others claim he has been seen running around the city, for all we know he could be dead, but there's no way to know for sure," Eva shrugged, making her way back to the kitchen. "Anyway, anyone feeling like having some snacks? We shall celebrate! What a day to be alive. Remind me to thank him if he does come back."

The change in attitude didn't go unnoticed. How she had gone from 'grumpy old woman who looked about to kick their asses out of there' to grumpy 'old woman who wanted to treat them to candy' just because it looked like their crew was officially responsible for fucking up her king was a tiny bit unsettling, but convenient nonetheless.

"I want snacks, I want snacks! Are we friends now?!" Luffy blurted as he launched his way to the kitchen like a starved animal, Eva's words seemingly not having reached his brain. The woman pointed at him with a threatening knife that kept him in place and the small ruckus died down as he settled for waiting on a stall, not sparing a look at his nakama, who were now exchanging worried glances.

"He'll be fine, he knows how to take care of himself," Zoro stated with certainty he didn't quite feel.

But his firm tone seemed to soothe his crewmates' worries, because they started to relax and Nami started prodding them to think of a strategy or something while they waited for more news. But it's not like they had much to work with without knowing about Sanji's state.

Suggestions started flying around as Eva served them a trail with pastries and gave Luffy a personal bowl (she had been fast at picking up on Luffy's voracious hunger), and they went on for about twenty minutes or so.

What about trying to sneak into the Royal Palace to see if they could find some evidence on what was going on? What about they wiped the streets in search for Sanji? No, that would only drag attention on them. What about they just waited? But, then again, how long would they have to wait? Would Sanji even show up? Maybe he was waiting for them in the Sunny, expecting of them to pick up on his plan and come back to their ship so that they could opt for a fast retreat. But wouldn't Sanji have given them a hint, if that was the case, at least? Should they go and check? Wait, now that they thought of it, was their ship safe? It was in the shipwright guild's hands and Franky had established a solid bro-to-bro relationship with them, but that didn't guarantee they would protect the ship against the army that was sure to try to block the Strawhat's way back to the Sunny. Would they hand them in? Should someone go and check, and maybe protect their ship before someone took it, unless someone had already taken it? What about their baggage? It was still in the hotel, along with a lot of the money Nami had managed to gather during the past weeks (insert a deafening distressed screech coming from the redhead the moment someone muttered they may have lost they money)! Should someone try to break in and rescue whatever was left? No, their rooms would already be crowded with soldiers, wouldn't they? Maybe they could split the group so that each team could take care of a problem at a time while some of them went on the lookout for Sanji…

"We'll wait. Sanji is sure to find us sooner or later, he isn't dumb and he has the means to track us down. We'll wait for him and let him explain. Then we'll decide," Luffy butted in with a resolute tone. He hadn't spoken until now, too busy engulfing his treat, but the moment he did everyone went silent and listened with a wide range of approval in their eyes.

"What if he doesn't show up?" Zoro questioned, his voice a tad more calm. It's not like he was going to let himself lose his shit over Sanji's disappearance just because there was something suspiciously similar to worry coiling in his stomach. Sanji had disappeared a handful of times in the past, and he had always come back with some brilliant idea or whatever, it's not like he could allow himself to doubt his ability to stay alive, much less after having survived a heart-attack that should have him buried ten feet underground… could he?

"If he doesn't show up in… let's say two hours, then we'll send a few of us to go look for him," Luffy concluded. "Then we'll think of something. If it turns out he has indeed been captured, then we'll just go, kick some ass and get him out."

He was surprisingly level-headed when situations like these came at hand. He was the kind to do reckless shit any second he breathed, he was the kind to go all out and break faces and legs and whatnot when someone he cared about was in danger or if he had an objective he needed to achieve, but he also had unbreakable trust put on his nakama, which meant than he could gather himself and his explosiveness for a while and settle for waiting if he suspected there was a chance to give at whoever had put them in an uncertain situation. Which is what Sanji had just done. Luffy was ready to break his nose if he didn't present himself with a decent justification as to why he had attacked the man who had just offered a feast to his captain, but Luffy knew better than that. Sanji deserved the chance to be waited for, and even if there was an objective need to lay down a plan B in case he didn't come back, Luffy was positive they wouldn't need to make use of it. Sanji would come back in time, that he was sure of.

* * *

Zoro had been dozing off for a while when they heard a knock on the door. His eye snapped open and he jerked up right, wary and alert, no trace of sleepiness in his system. He let his gaze flicker towards the wall clock for a second before pointing it back to the door, his hand hovering over the hilt of his swords. It was passed midnight. An hour and a half after they had made themselves at home in Eva's house.

"You all need to chill," Eva grumbled, seeing as some of them had had the same reaction as Zoro (namely Franky, Brook and Robin) while others were already freaking out (namely Usopp and Nami). Chopper was still having trouble waking up, his eyes confused, while Luffy looked like he didn't give a damn, his expression a textbook example of the meaning of 'bored'. Waiting wasn't his thing. "Stay here, I'll go check." And Eva was the older and female version of what Luffy currently looked like, just that she was grumpy as fuck.

"What's going on?" Chopper whispered.

"Someone knocked."

"Who?"

"Do any of us look like we know?" Eva snapped on her way towards the door. "Shut up for a second, will you? And get those weapons of yours ready, just in case."

Zoro waited as she did exactly what she had announced she would, his attention at its peak.

"Oh," deadpanned Eva the moment she opened the door, not enough so that Zoro could see who was behind it. "Look who came to pay a visit."

"We need you to let us in, Eva."

And Zoro's healthy eye widened as he jerked to a standing position and made a rapid way towards the door with killing intent oozing out of his every cell as he unshielded two of his swords. Fuck if he didn't know that voice. Fuck if it didn't mean trouble.

"Out of my way, grandma."

Next thing she knew, Eva was being pushed aside, Zoro replacing her in the front door, swords already pointing at Aila's neck, right under her chin, just barely keeping himself from piercing her skin.

"I believe _I told you_ this would happen," came a second weary voice, which Zoro could also recognize and put a face to as Allen peeked from behind Aila with a look that read 'done with your bullshit'.

Zoro's body tensed, a sense of dread shooting in his system right away. Fuck.

"What have you done to him?!" he all but growled, murderous glare in place.

"_Oh my God_."

And… wait. _Wait_. He most definitely knew that pissed off voice. He knew it all too well. His stomach dropped, his grip on his sword faltering a bit.

Then Sanji was pushing passed Allen with angry steps and politely nudging Aila to let him get to the swordsman, and he was suddenly right in front of him, face all bloodied and looking like shit, but his glare was Sanji's trademark 'I am going to murder your sorry ass for being an idiot' one as his hand batted Zoro's armed one away, not even sparing a glance at his sword, which was never meant for him. Next thing he knew, Zoro was being pushed back.

"Get your shit together, shitty swordsman, and let us in before someone fucking sees us and sends all my efforts to hell."

Zoro blinked at him, disoriented.

"Sanji!"

Nami was standing on her knees, hands on the back of the sofa as she had turned around to watch the scene only to find her disappeared crewmate drawing a smile for her.

"Hello, my flower. Excuse the inconvenience-"

"Shut the fuck up. All of you. Come on, come in, this is not some happy-go-lucky hotel and I am sure as hell not risking my life while you put a neon sign right on front of my door.

Eva made quick work of pulling Aila and Allen in, and the crew was surprised to see an old man and a kid around seven years old following behind, eyes scared. The man was clearly injured and bleeding, but he stood for himself. Next came a couple of around sixty years old, looking apprehensive and bruised but not half as bad as the rest. The twins were curiously fast to escort them inside, helping their walk to be steady. There was something familiar about that couple's faces…

What was going on?

Chopper was already by Sanji's side, screaming bloody hell at him as he pulled at his hand to make him crouch down while he inspected his fresh injuries, but Sanji was fast to dismiss him. "Tend to them first. Old man over there needs assistance more than I do, he's got a few nasty injuries. Check the brat as well, else he is going to start sobbing again. The couple over there is in slightly better shape, but they'll need to be checked when you're done with them."

"What do you mean 'old man'!" the actual old man barked as Chopper had the time to blink and sort his priorities straight, seemingly agreeing with Sanji's command and already working on making the man sit down so that he could inspect him.

"I am not a brat!"

"Whatever, sit over there and wait for your turn," Sanji grunted, waving his hand at him. Nami was doing quick work at calming the kid down and leading him towards the sofa, motherly instincts kicking in, or maybe she was just trying to distract him from making any ruckus which they didn't need.

Zoro was extremely tempted to bark that Sanji was way more injured than any of those people were, but he wasn't enough of a douchebag to point it out and leave an old man, a lovely couple and a kid waiting for medical assistance. That didn't keep him from glaring at Sanji. _Hard_. He had a clear cut on his thigh, right where he remembered his flesh had been covered in bandages, and he had come in limping, which meant that his back was starting to give him shit again, that if he hadn't sprained an ankle or something. And there were definitely more cuts around his body if the blood stains all around his suit were anything to go by. Not to mention the torrent of blood tinting half of his face, the gruesome effect barely concealed by the curtain of blond hair covering his eye.

"How did you find us?" Brook was fast to ask.

Sanji's head motioned towards Aila. "She tracked down people's memories. A glimpse of moss here, a cyborg there, a walking skeleton crossing Madelaine's Avenue, and all that jazz. If she puts the pieces together I think she has a pretty clear map of where you've been."

"Damn, that's scary," Usopp muttered. And it was.

"Sanji, what's going on?" asked Robin as she stared down the twins, who had opted to remain silent near the countertop by the couple's side, cleverly deciding against speaking or moving around in case any of them considered them a threat. Zoro sure as hell did and he sure as hell didn't know what the fuck they were doing there. They didn't have a single scratch on them, asides from the bandages still covering the injuries they had been delivered during their fight against Zoro and Sanji. But no new wounds. The realization made something boil in Zoro's stomach, namely anger. What had they pushed Sanji to do? What was going on?

"Leave long explanations for later, this is way too crowded," Eva butted in. "I want you all in my basement. I'll get all the medical stuff downstairs for you, now start moving."

All of them grew silent, obvious questions hanging in the air but left unspoken as their sensible side told them the woman was right. They couldn't all stay there. Next knock on the door might not be Sanji's.

The woman gave them instructions and Nami was the first one to head towards the door leading to the staircase while holding the kid's hand. Followed by Usopp helping Chopper carry the old man with them. The twins shared a glance and followed suit, each one of them laying an arm around one member of the couple, leaving the rest of the crew to oblige, which they started to do as Eva rummaged around the house for supplies.

Zoro's eye had been twitching at how Sanji had let his back lean against the wall for a while. The blonde sighed and made it to follow the rest, but something kicked in in Zoro's gut, something similar to rage, and he was faster to get to the coffee table, where the empty trays laid. Sanji's attention was caught by the jerky movements and he momentarily wondered what Zoro was doing, but then Zoro was walking towards him with an angry stomp, stopping Sanji in his tracks out of confusion. He was certainly not expecting Zoro to yank his hair away from his face and unceremoniously press what felt suspiciously like a dining napkin – _the caveman_, that wasn't even hygienic- against the bloodied side of his face in an attempt to stop the hemorrhage. Zoro took two seconds to press _hard, _almost as if he was trying to get a point across, but only managing to make Sanji wince. Then he was letting it go for Sanji to hold if he didn't want it falling on the floor, which the blonde barely had time to catch on but managed to do, pressing the cloth much more gently against a wound Zoro hadn't yet seen in his rush to maybe indent the napkin in Sanji's face for eternity.

It didn't take long for Sanji's confused stare to turn into a glare.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

"No, what the fuck are _you_ doing. What's this all about?" Zoro snapped back, sneer in place, his tone hushed but angry. "What the fuck are those two doing here?"

Sanji snarled and bumped Zoro's shoulder, getting him out of his space. "Leave your grudges back to where they belong; this is not about them or us, heard that?! So stop being a prick and wait a minute so that I can explain in front of everyone instead of having to repeat it a fucking thousand times."

"Did you do it?" Zoro cut him.

"What?"

"Did you attack the king?"

It wasn't Zoro's voice that spoke the last question, it was Eva's. The woman was standing right in front of the door leading towards the basement. The pair realized it was only them left in the room. Zoro's gaze travelled from her to Sanji, expecting.

The blonde sighed.

"Yes, that'd be me."

"The fuck did you do that for?!" Zoro whisper-screamed, getting a hold of both of Sanji's shoulders in an attempt to beat some sense into him by shaking the life out of him. "At least give us a fucking heads up before doing something idiotic like this and throwing the whole damn kingdom at us, bastard!"

Sanji snatched his body out of his reach, the hand holding the napkin lowering from his face with the movement, now completely painted red.

"Stop playing house and come down with the rest," Eva snapped at them. "Close the door behind you."

And Sanji was going with her orders, just that Zoro had seen something he hadn't liked and now his hand was wrapped around the blonde's forearm, stopping him in his tracks.

"What now."

His breath caught when Zoro's hand lifted his hair again, only that this time he took the time to actually look at what was underneath it, which he had caught a glimpse of when Sanji had lowered the napkin a few seconds ago.

"Shit."

It came out as a hushed sigh, almost as if he hadn't meant to curse out loud, but Sanji was already cringing and batting his hand away. Of course, if Sanji was stubborn so was Zoro, so the swordsman was fast to get a hold of his strands and force them out of his face once more.

He was met, again, with the sight of a horrible-looking cut crossing from the birth of his hair to his nose, splitting his curly eyebrow in half and only barely missing his eye. The eyelid was definitely cut open in the upper edge, and it was closed and swollen, bathed in nauseating red, but it wasn't like Zoro's scar either. It didn't run _straight_ through the eye, so maybe… Sanji hadn't lost his eye, right? It looked like it might be saved if Chopper worked his magic on him. The cut shouldn't have tainted Sanji's unique blue… right?

"It's just a fucking cut," Sanji groaned, batting his hand away for the third time. He was clearly _not_ appreciating Zoro's concern.

Just that Zoro didn't give a fuck. It _wasn't_ a wound to cry over; Zoro had had that right across his eye and he was alive and kicking and deadly as ever, but exactly because he had experienced it, he could tell it wasn't a bullshit cut. It was deep as fuck, it was bleeding hard, half of Sanji's face was fucking cut in half, and he still didn't know if it had made his eye useless. Then again, Zoro had gone through this and it wouldn't exactly be a drama, not compared to Sanji's heart stopping on them and almost leaving them with a crew member less to count, but he knew that that kind of loss sucked. A lot. Zoro had had to learn how to fight all over again after losing his eye. And he had managed, because he was strong and stubborn like that, and a missing eye wasn't about to stop him in his tracks, but it was also a significant loss that was _hard_ to deal with. One eye proved to be short help in some situations, and Sanji needed both.

"Can you open it?" he ventured, voice slightly tense.

"No."

_Great._ Fucking peachy.

"Chopper has to take a look at this. It may not have cut through your eye, but I can't tell for sure-"

"I don't give a fuck, Zoro, stop worrying about some stupid cut!"

"You almost lost your eye, I fail to see how this is-" And then it dawned on him. "How the fuck did you let them get _this_ close?!"

And, really, he was seething. Not over the potential loss of an eye, but over the fact that the cut was _too_ deep. If it had been any deeper, Sanji might not be there at all, he might be dead. He was pretty sure the blonde had managed to dodge a blade that would have cut through his skull, but it had been too much of a close call, and that wasn't like Sanji. And Zoro had no doubt whatsoever that either he had willingly let someone do this or his back had given out on him mid-fight, which was a pretty clear reason why he shouldn't have started something like this, much less alone, if his body wasn't ready to take it. What the fuck had he been thinking?!

"And how the fuck did you let Mihawk take your eye?"

_Wow._ That was low.

Zoro stood there, gaping at Sanji, who was glaring at him without remorse.

"That has nothing to do with- I… I was fighting-"

"So was I. And guess what, shit happens. I don't remember questioning why you didn't see that blow coming or why you didn't protect yourself better, so stop nagging me about it. My eye is going to be fine, and if it's not, well, fuck it, I have another functioning one and you and your mossy one-brain cell have managed, so I shouldn't have a problem with it. Now, will you calm down and come with-"

"What the fuck are you waiting for?!" came Eva's pissed off voice from the door frame. She wasn't happy with their (lack of) speed, so she had come up again to tell them off on it. "Damn hormonal brats."

Sanji raised an eyebrow at Zoro, trying to check if he would pull another out of place show of concern on him, but Zoro settled for a 'tsk' as he grabbed Sanji's hand and pushed it against his face so that he'd keep the cloth pressed against the fucking wound that was still fucking bleeding _if he hadn't fucking noticed_. Sanji felt a small pang in his chest at the new attempt to make him take care of himself, but Zoro's hand was gone faster than lighting and next thing he knew they were descending in front of an angry woman who had made sure to stay behind so as to ensure that they actually obeyed and made their fucking love nest in her fucking basement instead.

* * *

Sanji wasn't exactly surprised when a cup of tea was placed right in front of him, Eva's first gesture or kindness ever since he had stepped in her house. Which he thanked her for dearly. He still had the bloodied napkin placed against his face, if only to keep Zoro's concern at bay. Zoro had sat himself on the floor a few feet away from him and Sanji knew it was a matter of minutes before he snapped and revealed Sanji's condition to Chopper. For now he was being considerate enough as to let the reindeer take care of his other patients. All in all, those were normal people who needed help and Sanji was… Sanji.

"Okay," Eva sighed, letting herself fall on a chair, face weary. She had just broken a silence that had been stretching for far too long, and it wouldn't be a lie to say that the reason behind it was the fact that the woman intimidated them all, causing all of them to opt for keeping their mouths shut until she deemed appropriate, which was apparently now. "Let's get things straight, shall we?"

"Did you attack the king?" Luffy blurted, almost as if he couldn't keep the question locked behind his lips any longer. He hadn't heard the answer and he probably knew what it would be, but he still needed to make sure.

Sanji settled for nodding.

"Care to elaborate?" Eva prodded, eyebrows raised.

Sanji gave a tentative look at the twins, whose bandaged bodies seemed to be encaging the couple they had just given shelter to. Zoro's temper boiled at that. What was their issue? But then Sanji was speaking.

"I think it's Aila and Allen who should explain."

Zoro raised an angry eyebrow at that. Figures.

Aila stared at the woman beside her, almost asking for confirmation, but Allen broke the silence first.

"It's… damn. Okay, it's not exactly easy, but-"

"Get on with it, already," Zoro growled from his spot.

Sanji chastised him with a glare, but Zoro ignored him. Allen sighed and continued.

"King Richard is a bastard."

Well, that was a hell of a statement. Fucking useless nonetheless.

"I can confirm that," Eva interceded, almost as if Allen's words needed reassurance.

"He… well, this city, this kingdom… it is not what it looks like."

"A mad town?" Franky ventured, humor not lost in his tone.

"Well, it's most definitely a mad town. But while for those who pass by it may present itself as heaven… for us, actual citizens, this is hell."

"Go on," Luffy prodded, serious face in place.

"It's not exactly like this for everybody. Like, the kingdom is practically cushioned in money, and there's a great services structure and whatnot, but… oh, shit, to anyone with no remarkable abilities this place is fucking great, but-" he caught himself. He seemed upset.

"Show a bit of a talent, whatever makes money," Aila continued for him. "And the Government will put you in a leash. Whatever it is: fight, fuck, gamble, be artistic, whatever. If they can take profit, they'll make us do it. The money, quite obviously, goes to the Crown, we don't see a single coin. It's… this place is not what it seems."

Well, they already knew that, Zoro bitingly thought. Damn, he was pissed. Were they mad because they didn't earn enough? Really, now? But…

"All this tournaments… they are a huge appeal to outsiders, but they rarely ever get a chance to win. The king has his best fighters placed in each tournament, making sure that it's mostly them who win. The prize that's meant to be given away never leaves the Crown's strongbox, and so the only thing the king knows is benefits, never losses. There's a lot of money thrown in bets and coming out of the entrance passes, and that all goes to those bastards. Same with Casinos, brothels, theaters and so on. Some establishments pay a fee that leaves them with almost no income, but some of us are completely tied. We fight every single week, because we have to. Half of the people you saw in the tournament are forced to do so, over and over again, and the only thing we see in exchange is new bruises and cuts. If we are good at more than one thing, then so be it, they'll be exploiting each one of our talents. The king found us attractive… and so he forced us to start prost- well, to start working at the brothel. And all the money we make goes to that pig's hands, so… yeah, we work _a lot_. Lots of… clients. Allen breaks Casinos. And the best we do, the better off we manage to live, so we do everything we can to kill it. If the Government choses you as one of its golden eggs gooses, then you can't afford to do bad or half-ass it, because you'll be maiming their income and… well. There's that. It doesn't exactly matter that there are several of us competing in the same tournament; the king wants to put on a show, and so we are forced to stand over the others and do some harm in order to avoid risking them losing interest on us."

There was a heavy silence weighting in the room. Zoro's stomach had dropped, and he was no longer pissed at the twins. Oh, boy, was he pissed. But not at them. Fuck, not at them anymore.

"Why don't you fight back?" Usopp cracked out, voice quiet, almost as if he feared asking the question.

Allen sighed.

"The same reason we can't afford losing the value we have in the king's eyes."

His gaze travelled to the couple sitting in between them. They were now holding each other, and the woman was silently crying in her husband's shoulder, Aila squeezing her shoulder with something similar to regret.

"These are our parents. Tom and Maria," Allen stated, voice weary and tired, oh so tired. Then he pointed at the old man and the kid. "Those are Jack and Ben. They shared our parents' cell."

Not only was the silence heavy, but the atmosphere as well. Luffy's eyes had long disappeared under his hat. He still said nothing.

"They…" Aila took a deep intake. "For each of us, the king holds someone precious to us prisoners. For us it was our parents. Jack is Smith's father, you fought against him, second round."

Zoro blinked at that. Smith… Smith and Dhor. Yes, they had fought them. And they had been hard to beat. They had been… desperate. And now he understood.

"Ben is Sasha's son. She was in the tournament, but you didn't get to fight her. We took her out," Allen completed.

"The thing is… if we fail… it doesn't matter if we win or lose, there's obviously only one winner, but if we don't meet the king's expectations, or if we try to quit…" Aila looked at her parents, a pained expression taking over her features. "_They_ suffer the consequences. Have a miss-step; they suffer. Miss a shift, lose a client; they'll be beaten or kept away from food, whatever they feel like doing to them. Half-ass it; they won't end the day unscarred. Try to escape, try to save them, try to fight back; they'll be killed. And no, we haven't tried to save them before, because we can't. No matter what we try, the king is always closer to them: they have them locked in the palace's underground. Before we have a chance to get there they'll be killed."

Aila's face disappeared between her hands, a look of anguish taking over her. "If we do well… if we put on a good show then we can get away with better treatment for them. Maybe a decent bed, three meals a day, the chance to send them letters and get theirs back… if we do _really_ well, we sometimes get to see them for a few minutes. So we do well," her voice was shattering. "And it fucking kills us that we have to step over people who are in our same situation, wishing to save their loved ones like we do, but we have to be selfish and hope that it's _our_ family that gets the better end of the stick. And it sucks," her palms were pressing so hard against her eyes that Sanji was afraid she might be hurting herself. "Because we are all peons in his game. We are not each other's enemies, _he_ is the enemy. Yet we only get to fight it out against the wrong person, and that's the show he grows rich over."

Her mother was now hugging her, and Aila might or might not have been crying, but neither she nor her mother were letting anyone see it if that was the case. Aila had her pride, and that's probably the only thing she had kept the king from taking away from her.

Sanji had already heard all of this, but he was trembling in restrained rage, and so were the rest of the crew. No one seemed to be able to utter a word, fury having taken the form of a lump in their throats.

"My daughter."

Everyone's gaze raised to meet Eva's calculatedly blank one. Under that mask there was a sea of emotion that promised pain to whoever had ever hurt her loved ones.

"She was murdered a few years ago. She was in the same predicament as Aila or Allen. She was a fighter. And she was the best. They took Charlie away from her when she was a baby and forced Odette back to the pit. And she fought. God, _she fought_, if only to keep Charlie alive. There eventually came someone stronger than her. She should have backed down when she saw defeat, but she didn't; she couldn't. And she died. That's the kind of monster that 'cool man' who was going to feed you is."

And that's all she was going to say, but it was more than enough.

"We told Sanji," Allen resumed, voice heavy with guilt, regret and tiredness. "More like he suspected there was something else behind the charade we had been forced to pull. Funny how we have the mind-reading abilities, yet it was him who read through us. He kept visiting until he pried the information out of us," he raised his eyes, full of gratefulness, and fixed them on Sanji, who was frowning and trying hard not to drag attention to himself, because that's what the bastard did. He didn't want to play hero. Even when he was, at least in the twins eyes. "He promised he'd get our parents out of there…"

His eyes filled with tears, voice coming out thick and wavering.

"_And he did_."

Zoro was now looking at Sanji, something heavy weighting down in his stomach. Something raw twisting in his chest. Something too big to embrace, something too intense to comprehend. And Sanji wasn't even taking credit. He just shrugged. The bastard _shrugged_.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Luffy's voice came out serious, and his stare was piercing, but there was no accusation behind his words. Just the need to know. And hell if Luffy was pissed. Zoro was surprised he hadn't yet barged out of there to kill the bastard behind the whole scheme, but he was used to that calm phase Luffy would always sink in before taking action. The calm before the storm.

Sanji sighed and shrugged again.

"Because I did have a plan and you would have ruined it."

Everyone's eyes twitched at the statement. He hadn't even bothered with a mock-humble 'no offense'. Well, offense was taken.

"Tell me you wouldn't have barged in there screaming bloody hell at him and driving the place to chaos," Sanji deadpanned, glaring at Luffy. And Luffy couldn't offer a decent denial at that. Because that's exactly what he would have done.

Sanji pressed the napkin against his scarred flesh and winced when he realized he had drawn Chopper's attention towards it. The reindeer was a millisecond away from asking him what the fuck was going on behind that shitty piece of bloody cloth, when Sanji decided to divert attention again.

"There were hostages in the picture, Luffy. Lots of them. Constantly watched over, there's two fucking guards per cell. What do you think would have happened if you had barged in just like that? They would have been killed before you had the chance to find your way towards their cells. All of them."

Well, he had a point there.

"Plus, first thing you would've aimed for would have been that bastard's face, and that wasn't the priority."

"Isn't that what _you_ did?" Usopp accusingly pointed out. Because, shit, the Crown was ready to kill them all _because_ Sanji had done exactly that.

"No."

Oh, well.

"Not at first. I had to assess the situation. I sneaked in, counted the cells and prisoners, planned a way out… you know, those things I wouldn't have been able to do had some of you been trashing the place like Neanderthals."

Zoro raised an eyebrow.

"I couldn't get them all out…" and Sanji's tone sounded guilty. Zoro felt the sudden need to wipe that tone out of Sanji's voice. He wasn't going to start blaming himself for this, would he? "But I did manage to liberate their cell. I sent them away through the escape route."

"He told us to wait there," Ben chirped in, his runny nose making his voice all the more child-like. "Which reminds me you promised us candy if we stayed still and behaved until you came back! Where's the candy?"

Eva chuckled from her seat and patted the kid's head, a show of gentleness she hadn't yet poured on anyone else. "If you behave until the cool man over there is finished with his story I'll give you double the candy, what about that?"

The kid wiped his nose and nodded enthusiastically before boring holes in Sanji's face with his eyes, willing him to finish his damn rant.

"I went back in, found the bastard and scared the shit out of him. He did dodge the upcoming kick, but only because I let him. He is fast, though. Not a totally useless fighter, he knows how to hold his ground. But he's not the one we should worry about."

And Zoro recognized the tone his voice had morphed into. That wasn't tired Sanji trying to shake the spotlight away from him, that was Sanji Blackleg laying a strategy in front of them. And he should have expected it. Sanji hadn't only gone and risked his life to save four people. He had taken the chance to draw a plan all of them would take part in, and that first kick against the king had only set it into motion. The bastard hadn't attacked the king out of spite, he had made a move in that proverbial chess match. He had been forcing the other team to display their cards for him to analyze. Sanji's next words confirmed his theory.

"There's seven guardians in charge of his protection. Seven motherfuckers capable of presenting a _serious_ challenge. Seven men who would have frustrated all attempts to make a massive escapade had we planned one. Seven killing machines who would have protected him at once had we tried a direct offensive against him. Seven men who would have had nothing to lose if we had defeated his king before letting the hostages go. They would have killed them before we could make it down."

Sanji smirked a bit.

"Seven bastards who are no longer together."

Here it was. Here came the plan. And that's the stage Sanji had drawn for them to put it into action.

"The idea was to scare the king enough as for him to start shitting his pants and alter their formation, and that's exactly what he did, the foreseeable bastard. The attack was fast, a close call that pulled him into panic. I escaped right after that, and here's when things have been set into motion. The king is indeed shitting his pants, and he has demanded four of those guardians to protect him at all costs, which means they are not leaving his side anytime soon. I don't know where he is hiding right now but, wherever he is, those four are with him. He has sent the other three along with a big part of his army to wipe the streets in order to eradicate us, that's how scared he is of us roaming around and maybe getting another clear shot at him. And guess what has been forgotten amidst his pathetic cravings for survival."

Now his grin was clear and bright. Almost scary. Zoro widened his one eye, and so did his nakama.

"There's no one actually strong enough to stop us taking care of the cells. The escapade of four of their prisoners has not made it to his top priorities yet, not when he feels his life is on the line, so we have a clearing. His forces are spread all around the city; pretty much everything is chaos, and there's only four of those bastards protecting him. Get where I am going?"

And, fuck, Zoro got where he was going, and, fuck, Sanji was fucking _brilliant_. He hadn't finished the king himself, which he could have done, because that would have done nothing to help the prisoners but maybe aggravating them further since there'd be seven monsters ready to kill them all, which Sanji couldn't take down in one go. Nor could they as a team, not without risking one of them escaping their assault and going for the hostages. No, as Sanji had said, the goal wasn't to get the king out of the picture, but to use him. Scare him and let him live so that he could still make decisions his underlings would have to obey, to make him fear for his life and so conditioning all of his decisions around that. And it had fucking worked. Sanji had used himself as a bait to spread panic and open a clear way towards success; he had used himself as a distraction while inspecting the place. Unknowingly, the king had let the battleground be drown according to Sanji's tastes. There no longer was an unbreakable army inside the Palace, too close to the people they were trying to save and get out of there unharmed. The most immediate danger had been yanked out of their heads and was now spread around, and using the prisoners as hostages had suddenly become harder for the king, because the people who could actually present a challenge to the Strawhats' where somewhere else, not even thinking about the people they had locked underground.

And, fuck, _Sanji was a genius._

"There'll be three teams."

There we go. Here came their strategy. Their way out of this mess.

"One will be in charge of causing havoc around the city. We need as many soldiers as possible out in the streets, and the more chaos we ignite, the more of them will leave the palace in order to hunt us down, plus, we'll have those three bastards distracted for good, and maybe we get a fourth one to come out, who knows, we may be lucky," Sanji shrugged. "The second team will be in charge to cause havoc _inside_ the palace and near the king, preferably ending that bastard by breaking his face. We need our best fighters there; there's four of those guardians right beside him and those will be a problem. The faster we defeat them, the less chances we'll take at them catching on what's going on and escaping and making it to the cells. That would make the plan a tad bit more complicated to achieve, and we don't need that, not when there are around two hundred people to evacuate down there."

"Two hundred people?!" Nami screeched, horror showing in her voice. Did they hold _that_ many people against their own citizens?

"Give or take. It's three floors we have to take care of, all of them underground. I'll be leading the evacuation team."

Why did Zoro _know_ Sanji would say that? Popular belief might have expected Sanji to put himself amongst their best fighters in order to take down the king and his guardians, but Zoro _knew_ Sanji. He knew how that bastard really was, and if someone was about to risk his life while saving other people, that was him. All situations were dangerous and detrimental if they took a misstep, but Zoro knew for a fact that evacuating involved putting your life in the line when helpless people who couldn't fight were at risk of losing it. It wasn't only your own life you were gambling with, but also that of those you were trying to save, and that means betting yours when theirs is at stake. With a reduced amount of people it isn't all that threatening, but with two hundred people… well, that fucked things up. That was a _huge_ mass to evacuate. That was a lot of lives Sanji was going to risk his for. Given the biggest threats in the pictures weren't going to be down there, which was the whole point of Sanji's solo attack, but the risk was still huge. And, just like that, Zoro realized that there was no room for mistakes. They couldn't let any of those guardians get way, else Sanji and his team were going to be fucked, especially Sanji, because Zoro knew the bastard was going to take the blow for each one of the prisoners being threatened with it.

The more Zoro thought about it, the more he believed most of Sanji's recent injuries hadn't come out of his fight to escape right after he had delivered the shocking blow against the king, and thus against the guardians. No, the more he thought about it the clearer it was that Sanji's reckless wounds in his face and thigh were result of him shielding those four escapees sitting with them in the room. They hadn't left unscarred, but Sanji had taken most of the blows, that Zoro was sure of. Sanji's eye… if he had indeed lost it then he had lost it by putting his body against whoever the fuck attacked him and one of those four people. And Zoro wouldn't have expected anything else from him, but the thought was scary. Because all of them had done stupid things to protect others, but Sanji tended to make his body double as a shield way too often, and that was going to kill him one day.

So, no, Zoro didn't like it. Injured or not, even with lethal enemies being there, Sanji would fare much better in a direct fight where he only needed to care for himself. But, of course, he wasn't going to take that. He had already played bait and gotten a few serious injuries for the sole purpose of granting themselves a plan that didn't involve putting the prisoner's lives in danger. The bastard was selfless like that. And Zoro didn't know if the churns in his chest were torturing him out of anger or something else, but his eye was fixed on Sanji like a magnet and… God, why did Sanji have to be like this?

"We'll have some external help," Aila announced. She looked like she had regained her composure, and her seriousness was back in place, confidence starting to show behind her green eyes. "My brother can't fight yet, but I can. And there's a few fellows out there who'd like to see the Palace burn and his loved ones saved, so they'll be there as well. Wherever you need them, they'll lend a hand."

Sanji nodded.

"Most of them should add to the first team. The more we drown the city into chaos, the more attention we'll be dragging on its streets and out of the palace. We'll need level-headed people in the evacuation team; we don't need any uncontrolled vendetta making the plan backfire. Whoever joins that team is there to _evacuate_ and protect the prisoners, not to lash out on whoever the fuck they hold a grudge against. That comes later. Anyone capable of doing that?"

Aila nodded. "Yes, I know a few trustworthy men."

"Good. As for the offensive team, I'd say Luffy and Zoro."

While the Strawhats didn't have a problem with that, the twins were clearly not agreeing on this one.

"Only those two? They'll wipe them out in the blink of an eye," Aila opposed.

Sanji politely shook his head. "We'll probably need some of your best fighters as a support team, but if someone can take them out without casualties on our team it's probably them. And me, if I didn't have my back fucked and didn't need to supervise the evacuation, but they can handle themselves. Add some strong men and women ready to do some harm and we have this team sorted as well."

And, really, Zoro hadn't believed his chest could twist anymore, but it did. Yet he nodded reassuringly at the twins. Zoro's wounds were mostly healed and Luffy was peachy _and_ pissed off; they could do it.

"Plus, the king is not that much of an issue. Once those four are down, the Crown is falling right behind them, I can almost guarantee that to you."

"When are we leaving?"

Everyone turned to look at Luffy. If anyone was shocked that the captain was currently asking _his chef_ when to start with the operation, it wasn't the Strawhats. Luffy was their captain, but the amount of trust he held towards them was incommensurable, and he didn't have a problem acknowledging the plan was Sanji's. He was more than pissed off and ready to kick ass, but he was also capable of getting himself to listen, especially after Sanji had risked his own life to increase their chances at succeeding in this coup d'état without anyone unnecessarily dying; and it's not like Luffy was about to look down on the people they were trying to save or on the effort Sanji had made to achieve their current upper-hand position.

Sanji looked back at him for a while and ended up shrugging and standing up.

"The sooner the better. What about now-"

"Chopper, you need to check his eye."

And really, that annoying voice was the last thing he needed to hear that could derail the plan. There were hundreds of lives waiting to be rescued, for fuck's sake! His eye could wait a few more hours.

Chopper was now glaring at him, but Sanji made a waving gesture in the air dismissing it.

"I am fine. Check it later," he groaned, his voice final.

Just that Zoro had other plans as he stood up and slapped his hand and napkin away from his face. Before he could react, Zoro had his jaw forcefully grabbed to still his head while the other wasted no time in yanking his hair back for the umpteenth time, putting on show what the blonde strands were hiding.

And Chopper yelped.

"Shit!"

Sanji went to free himself from Zoro's dead grip, but Zoro was a step ahead of him as he harshly let his face go and used the hand he had been holding his hair in to grab the back of his neck and push him towards Chopper.

"Check him now."

Sanji growled a few insults, but that's all he could do before Chopper had him backed down in a corner, forcing him to let him examine him and determining he didn't like that wound at all.

And Zoro might have been too entranced watching Chopper's reactions to the injury in an attempt to confirm the extent of the damage caused (because, yes, he was worried and it _did_ matter if Sanji lost an eye or not), but he didn't miss the slight flinch running down Ben's spine as he turned around to watch the scene, slight trembling in his hands.

"He won't lose his eye, will he?" the kid asked with a small voice.

And Zoro didn't need to be a genius to know who exactly Sanji had been protecting when he got that nasty wound. He felt his stomach drop again, his chest swelling. But he didn't have time for that. They didn't have time for that.

"For now we need to disinfect and sew this," their doctor sternly replied.

And Zoro couldn't get past the fact that that wasn't a 'no'. Something heavier pulled at his gut.

"What the fuck, was that a dirty napkin you were using to stop the hemorrhage?!" Chopper groaned as he held the offending piece of cloth in the air like it was the nastiest thing to ever have existed on Earth. "Whose fucking brilliant idea was that?!"

Sanji glared hard at Zoro but he didn't open his mouth. And if Zoro would've stayed quiet, Chopper would have never found out it was him who had practically tattooed that napkin in Sanji's face, but, of course he had to open his big mouth and justify his brilliant choice of a means to stop the hemorrhage.

"It's better than nothing, the bastard wasn't even bothering on covering it up-"

"_Of course_ it would be _you_." And Chopper sounded so done with them that Zoro had trouble not taking offence on his tone. But he didn't scold him further, he was too preoccupied gathering what was necessary to sew that, and man, that was going to hurt like a bitch.

Chopper read the prescription of a bottle filled with clear liquid as he stood in front of Sanji, who he had commanded to lay on the floor.

"Hold this against your eye. Careful not to cover the wound or pull too much at the skin," he instructed as he handed a fresh piece of cloth at the blond, who sighed and obeyed. He better cover it well, else he would lose his eye to fucking disinfectant or alcohol or whatever the fuck the reindeer was going to pour on him.

"Get him out."

It took a second to register that Chopper was asking for someone to take Ben out of that room. The kid was practically hyperventilating and he didn't seem intent on not watching the show, which would only grant him nightmares and maybe the need to puke. Nami took the hint and dragged the kid upstairs.

Eva sighed and stood up as well. "Up we go. This is not a fucking circus."

Everyone but Luffy, Zoro and Chopper left. And it was for the better.

The moment Chopper started pouring the liquid over Sanji's split face and over his eyelid, a pained groan left the man, his body tensing like an arrow, his jaw clenching to the point it was painful, but not as much as _that burn_. Fuck. Fucking shitty fuck. It did hurt like a bitch.

But that's about the only sound he let out, and Zoro's nerves got fried real quick. He wasn't expecting anything else, and shit, they had all gone through worse, but this was a nasty injury and witnessing the amount of pain he was going through wasn't easy. Damn, it wasn't easy to see on any of his crewmates. He may play tough, and his rational side might be completely aware that certain wounds, as painful as they were, wouldn't lead to death, but seeing them in serious pain had always been cringe-worthy. It was something he hated. And he would never let it show, and he may come off as heartless, but he suffered when they did. Because he cared about them. And, fuck, he cared about Sanji. And, fuck, had he just thought that?

There was a strangled cry coming out of Sanji's lips as his body jerked up, which died away as fast as it came as Sanji did his best to keep himself in check. Before Chopper could ask that of them, both Zoro and Luffy had stood up and positioned themselves by Sanji's side.

"Come on, you've got this," Luffy encouraged him with a pat against his thigh. He then grabbed his lower body and pinned it to the ground, just in case Sanji's body acted on reflex and obstructed Chopper's work again.

Sanji felt careful calloused hands travel their way across his face. Zoro was kneeling behind Sanji's head, and the blonde could feel his knees against both sides of his face, leaving enough space for Chopper to work with. One hand came to rest under his chin until it took a firm hold of his jaw while the other wrapped itself around his shoulders, keeping Sanji in place.

Chopper continued with his ministrations, Sanji's body unable to turn against him now, and Zoro could do nothing but watch and maybe grip tighter as Sanji's face scrunched in pain at the burn and then at the needle making its way across the side of his face Zoro had once gotten used to see, a side of his face Zoro found covered after two years only to be flashed with his fucking twin of an eyebrow on the other half. Now one of them was only holding the spiral together thanks to Chopper's work, and it looked horrible.

By the time Chopper finished and claimed he had to take care of his leg now, Sanji let out a deep exhale that didn't manage to conceal a pained tremble, and his face was gross and sweaty.

"Clean his face," Chopper instructed, wasting no time in yanking his pants downwards. And it's not like Zoro hadn't seen what was under that and even what was under the now exposed boxers one hundred times, some of them in a less than conventional context, but he had the decency not to look down. Only Chopper's sigh told him that the wound in his thigh was also an ugly one. "They barely missed your femoral artery."

Zoro cringed. That would have been _bad_.

"It's pretty deep anyway…"

And, man, Chopper sounded pissed.

"What part of 'don't fight while your back is still healing' didn't you understand?!"

Here we go.

"You couldn't perform at your 100%, and that's what you get! These wounds wouldn't have been as bad had you fucking listened to me, Sanji!"

Just that they would've. Because Sanji's back might have been giving in due to the strain, but neither the face cut nor the thigh one had been caused by that. It would have happened anyway. Sanji would've still jumped in front of the kid. He would've still become the shield of whoever he was protecting when his thigh received the cut as well. And no back wound would have changed that.

And Chopper must know it as well, because he ended up dropping the topic. He didn't have it in him to fight the stubborn bastard, not when he had put his life out there to try to save hundreds.

Zoro's attention was caught by Luffy handing him a wet clean cloth. Only then did he realize that he was still holding Sanji's face and that Sanji hadn't yet told him to leave him the fuck alone. And, damn, Luffy could do the job himself, but no, Zoro had to take the cloth and start patting it across Sanji's face, mindful of the stitches, wiping blood and sweat out of his features, and Sanji winced every now and then, but he allowed it, eyes closed. Eyes or eye? Would the one he was currently cleaning ever open again? Would they have matching scars now? If that wasn't a joke, Zoro didn't know what it was. What was next? Sanji's chest being ripped open like when Mihawk cut through him back in- oh, no, no, _hell no_. Stop these thoughts, some fucked up higher power he never believed in might decide to humor him and make it happen.

When he went back to stare at what he was doing, he realized it was the first time he _properly_ saw Sanji's whole face for more than two seconds, no hair dividing it in two. It was almost funny how those eyebrows swirled the same way instead of mirroring each other, but one was deeply scarred now, so it should probably _not_ be funny... probably. Yet, it was a rare view to be met with, and Zoro took the time to stare. Stare at the side of his face he had grown to know when he had met the bastard, a side he hadn't seen ever since they parted ways for two long years. It was somehow rewarding, seeing it again. Stare at his whole face, nothing hiding it, even if its current state would have Sanji wishing no one was looking at it. And he probably shouldn't be staring and doing more of his job (you have one job, Zoro, _one_), but he couldn't help it.

Chopper had begun to sew the cut in Sanji's thigh and he was wincing and scrunching his nose again, just that this time he didn't need to be held down that violently because he could take it better. It was nowhere near as painful, and he was Blackleg Sanji, of course he could take it. Just that when he opened his eye at a particularly painful tug, he found Zoro staring down at him with an unreadable glint in his eye as he worked on his face, one hand warm against his jaw, still holding him in place but not grabbing him anymore, and his breath almost hitched.

"What."

It took a few seconds for Zoro to respond, seemingly taken by surprise that he had been caught staring… like that. He was currently dabbing at his broken eyebrow, gentle as ever, and Sanji swore he would never get used to 'gentle' and 'Zoro' being put together in the same sentence. If anything, it sounded like a contradiction, but those two words were actually meddling together at the moment, no fight between them.

Slowly but steadily, Zoro let out a lazy smirk, purposely keeping the damp cloth pressed against his swirly eyebrow for a heartbeat more than necessary.

"Long time no see, curly brow."

Then came the shit-eating grin.

Now Sanji was confused. Had Zoro gone nuts? Had he just…? Wait. _No. _No, he hadn't. _Had he just…?!_

"_Did you just greet my fucking eyebrow?!_"

Zoro had to force his hand away from Sanji in order not to smack it against the stitched wound as he started to laugh, a course of action Chopper started to curse a few seconds later as he yelled at him to stop making his patient shake while he was going all doctor on him.

"Oh, _fuck you_. I'm going to murder you in so many different painful ways you're going to regret ever being born, bastard!"

"It was kind of funny," Luffy defended by the spot he had taken next to the table, a few feet away from them as he watched the scene between snickers.

"Luffy, shut the fuck up. It _wasn't_ funny, it was a dickhead move."

"Oh, come on, you need to simmer down, curly, I was just being polite. Greeting an old friend and all that jazz, as you like to say."

"Fuck you."

"I shall inform you it's now looking… interesting. A fine piece of art you've got here."

"And, then again, _fuck you_."

And Zoro was laughing again and Chopper was yelling at them to stop making his life difficult while he worked, and Luffy was laughing at them and Sanji wished he had the ability to kick the bastard's face in without ruining Chopper's work in the process, but the only thing he ever did was insult the swordsman as he kept on commenting on the interesting pattern his eyebrow was now drawing on his face as stitches and the cut itself added to the curliness of it all. And Zoro should've probably _not_ laughed at that at all, because there was an eye they still weren't sure was going to work again, and the wound was serious enough as not to be taken as a joke, but Sanji forgot about the needle piercing his skin as Chopper worked on his thigh, and he most definitely tuned down the general pain his face was in along with the secret fear of actually losing part of his sight, which he would never admit out loud.

On the other hand, Zoro's shithead taunts were very present in his mind. So was his laughter. So were the careful dabs he kept applying as he cleaned his face of blood and sweat when his hand wasn't shaking with malicious snickering.

Well, if anything, Zoro knew how to nail a distraction.

**TBC**


	38. Chapter 38 - Purple Sign

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* * *

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**Chapter 38**

**Purple Sign**

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* * *

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"Turn left, turn left, turn left! He is coming after us!" Franky yelled over the sounds of destruction around them.

He made sure to be the last one in the line of fugitives running to save their lives, turning around just before the nearest corner in time to block a canon fired his way with his own beam, an explosion lighting up the street they were just now leaving.

They had him. One of the guardians had spotted him and his bunch of arena fighters, and was now persecuting them, firing canons at discretion, civils be damned.

Franky groaned and turned the corner, deeming he had bought enough time and catching up with his team.

"We have to take it to less populated areas! He doesn't give a damn if he blows up the whole city but we can't afford collateral victims!" stated Chris, one of the few uninjured fighters who could actually pair up to Franky's fighting ability without the need for canons.

"Roger that," Franky agreed. "You lead the way."

"Soldiers coming from our right!" yelled someone at the front.

"Some of you restrain them! Get away the moment the guardian gets here, else he'll end you!" Franky was fast to order. "The rest, turn left! Chris, bro, get us outta here _fast_, we need to get somewhere where we can actually fight back."

Chris nodded and made his way towards the front rows in a sprint. Franky winced when he heard the telltale stomping of the guardian's footsteps behind them. They didn't have much time before he caught up with them.

Damn. They should have seen this coming. Sanji's plan was perfect as long as the guardians tried to keep the pretense of caring about their citizens, but that didn't seem to be the case. The enormous bastard tailing them had already blown a few buildings and was in the way of destroying more if the huge canons he carried on his shoulders, his murderous aura, and the lack of fucks he gave were anything to go by.

Franky technically _could_ fight back. It would make a pretty complex and challenging fight, but he stood a very stable chance against that particular opponent since both of them were similarly built and had the same kind of fighting style as far as fancy explosions went. _But_, if he started presenting a decent battle, the destruction around them would increase tenfold, and Franky had the mind not to be so reckless. He had a fighters' team with him so that they could do the job how it was meant to be done, so he'd have to trust them to get them to more favorable surroundings. Moreover, he couldn't forget the actual point of the plan: as much as it would be ideal to get the guardians out of the picture, which they would eventually need to do, what came first was distraction. It didn't exactly matter if they couldn't take them down right there and then; as long as the bastard was kept entertained and away from the palace, they were already doing a good job.

He'd have to take him down, though. Else they'd have human losses he didn't want to afford, and they were at risk of him catching up with their strategy and deciding to go the fuck back to the last place Sanji wanted him to be: near the prisoners they were trying to free.

"Chris! Hurry up, bro!" he pressed when he caught sight of their enemy already cutting distances and firing at them again, which he barely had time to block. "We need this one down _now_!"

* * *

Nami let a storm hit their enemies. The crowd of soldiers going after the team of arena fighters she lead were fried the moment lightening fell down on them, and it may have reached the guardian currently going after them if the bastard hadn't jumped on the rooftop of a set of buildings crowded with civils, where Nami had made sure her attack wouldn't hit.

Fuck them all.

Those bastards didn't give a damn about their citizens' safety, if anything they used them as protection, and if the Strawhats hadn't had an actual bit of humanity in their hearts and had played that same game, all those innocent people would have already died amidst the battle. That was part of the reason why her attacks were half as effective as they should have been. Had she been free to unchain an actual storm brought from hell, she might've presented a challenge against the guardian chasing after them, but she couldn't do that without risking innocent lives, and her enemy knew it all too well.

"Anyone knows of a place less crowded than this?" she asked at her group, hoping they'd hear her.

Someone was about to answer when a cry got her attention. The guardian, a tall lanky dude with long black hair, stood a few meters away from them, smirk splitting his face, as he held his sword impaled against one of her team member's body. The bastard held a child she hadn't seen him kidnap under his free arm, the kid too scared to even make a sound. The now close to death arena fighter had probably throw himself at that monster in order to avoid such a thing happening the moment he had seen the kid near their enemy. It had clearly not worked.

Shit.

There was no way she could attack him like that. Using a kid as a shield… _disgusting bastard_. She swore she'd get him good. Oh, how she wanted to end him. Just not now.

_Not now._

"_Retreat!"_ she yelled in a fit of fury.

As long as the kid had his use as protection, he wouldn't harm him, which was a good start even if it meant they couldn't properly go on the offensive.

Damn, if only they _could_ do something.

She gritted her teeth. At least she had to try to keep him away from the palace; that was something she _could_ do… While trying to keep the brat alive.

Man, they were fucked.

* * *

"Brook!"

"Yes?"

"Left!"

Brook jumped to the signaled side and avoided an explosion Usopp had just shot his way, effectively wiping his surroundings of the soldiers that had been tailing the talking skeleton all along.

They heard a few panicked cries from civilians, but both of them made quick count and determined there hadn't been any collateral victims. Thank God.

Closest soldiers gone, at least they now had a brief breather to use and order their thoughts. Usopp ran towards Brook's position, frowning.

"Still no traces of him?"

"Doesn't look like it, my long-nosed friend."

"Where is that bastard hiding? He should have come out by now with all the ruckus we have caused."

Usopp was breathing hard. They had been running wild for a while now, several squads of soldiers going after them like their life depended on it, probably because it did, and all they had managed so far was to reduce every single one of them with their joint efforts, keeping them away from the palace and dragging more soldiers out in the streets in an attempt to help their comrades. Which would count a successful if there wasn't a guardian whose attention they should have caught by now; but he was nowhere in sight, and Usopp was starting to worry.

He should be there by now. They should have at least seen him or had some trace to follow.

Where was he?

* * *

Adding Robin to the evacuation team proved to be the right choice to make. Her abilities were put to use as soon as they got to the first floor full of prisoners.

Sanji had guided his rather reduced team through the escape exit he had already explored during his solo incursion, avoiding detection for the most part and getting rid of the few soldiers who tried to intercept them without breaking a sweat. As he had foreseen, the king's strongest men weren't down there, thus it was something close to easy getting rid of them.

They couldn't fuck up, though. For each cell there was at least one guard, if not two, which could present trouble if they didn't act fast; since the last cells' guards would have had time to react by the time they reached the end of the corridor if they were caught by the first ones, which would directly put the prisoners' lives at risk. Tricky, indeed. But that would've only been a problem had they tried a direct attack from the only access available.

Robin made it easier. As long as they got there without being called out on it and without alerting the standing guards, all she had to do was grow a few arms around their bodies at the same time and do quick work of their necks. Most of them didn't even have the time to feel surprised when they faced a hand growing from their chest up to their face. It went as fast and smooth as it could have gone, and that was all thanks to the raven haired woman.

So, yes, Sanji was glad he had brought her along.

There were shocked yelps coming from the cells as the guards fell to the ground, though, and Sanji was fast to order his team to make them all shut up. If they alerted the following floors by dragging unwanted attention up there, the next 137 prisoners left to be rescued were as good as dead.

"Good evening, ma'am," Sanji greeted as soon as he put himself in charge of one of the cells, smiling.

There was an old woman, a man, and two teenagers. They all gave him scared looks but he was fast to shush them with a soothing gesture. His team was doing the exact same in other cells. He could hear some faint murmurs going around, but the first scared yells were already dying down.

Good.

"We'll get you out of here, but you will need to remain silent," he calmly explained, kind smile not leaving his features as he crouched and took the individual set of keys from the guard who had been standing in front of that cell. He carefully slid the piece of steel into the lock and successfully opened the door. "Now, if you'll kindly follow the man waiting for you at the beginning of the corridor, he'll lead you out. But, please, and I can't stress this enough, try to be as silent as possible. Is that alright?"

"Oh my God, thank you so much!"

Sanji was rather surprised when one of the teenagers, a blonde freckled brat who couldn't be more than thirteen, threw himself at Sanji and held him for dear life, face buried in his chest. He blinked a bit and tried not to wince at the way his injured body protested at the rather harsh treatment and awkwardly patted him on the head.

"You're good. Come on, I need to take care of the other cells, we're in a bit of a hurry," he prodded, his hand still petting the kid for the younger's comfort.

"How are they doing? Any injured people here?"

Sanji turned to Chopper, who had gotten to his cell after previously checking another three. If Sanji _had_ to be in the evacuation team, so did Chopper. He was there to assess any immediate medical needs the prisoners might have, as well as to palliate any injuries they may get trying to escape, not to mention he was about one hundred times better at calming people down than Sanji, Robin, or any of the arena fighters would ever be.

"See for yourself," Sanji motioned, taking the chance to carefully get the brat away from him and breathe. He did suspect his solo incursion might have led to at least a broken rib. "But I think they're fine."

Chopper nodded and made them get out, doing a quick check up for every one of them and dismissing them towards the exit the moment he didn't see anything remarkable. Lots of malnutrition and badly healed scars, as well as a few recent bruises and cuts, but nothing that needed immediate attention. There were two hundred people to get out of there, and he didn't have time to treat them all at the moment. That came later.

Just as Chopper made his way inside the very next set of bars, Sanji hurried to another cell about five cells down, since the others were already being taken care of. Robin was opening the one by his side, ordering the insiders to keep their mouths sealed and do as she told them without bothering with smoothing things over. She had to get them out of there and she didn't have time to pamper anyone: that was Robin for you. Sanji almost smiled at it, but he had his own cell to take care of.

"Good evening there," he greeted with his calming smile.

There were five prisoners there, that he could count. One of them laid at the back of the cell, body sprawled on the floor. Sanji couldn't help his eyes from lingering on the figure, dread filling his insides, but he kept on with his rant as he rummaged through the guard's pockets to find the key. The other four were looking at him with wide eyes.

"We're here to get you out, but you'll need to remain silent, yes? You'll be free in the blink of an eye, I promise, but you need to follow our instructions, else it won't work," he explained.

He gave up looking for the keys on the first guard and tackled the second, his movements slightly jerky with trepidation. They key to success was that it was done fast and smoothly, but they could be walked in at any moment. He wouldn't have given two shits if it was only him to face trouble, but there were 137 people who were virtual hostages in the lower floors and would become actual ones if somebody rang the alarm, and he wasn't letting that happen any time soon.

He finally found the keys and opened the door.

"Head to the beginning of the corridor, there's a line already forming. Some of my men will guide you out. Remember what I told you?"

"We'll be quiet," nodded one of the girls, barely above eighteen. She looked frankly in bad shape and she could use some weight, but she wasn't any worse than the rest.

Sanji's eyes landed on the laying figure by the end of the cell, squinting.

"Hey there, buddy, come on, we need to get moving," he nudged, walking towards him and slightly shaking him.

He was met with cold skin and his touch faltered, his breath catching.

"It's useless. He's dead," the same girl who had first answered told him.

She was the only one left lingering by the cell door, looking down at Sanji's crouching figure with downcast eyes. They almost looked defeated. Almost. If one squinted, there was a hint of thirst for freedom to be seen behind her pupils.

"One of the guards killed him out of spite after someone managed to get some prisoners out of here. He probably didn't mean to go this far since they aren't exactly allowed to end anyone's life unless someone orders it, but I guess his hand slipped… or something. He died one or two hours ago, the beating was pretty bad…"

Sanji looked at her, eyes empty, guilt tugging down at his stomach.

"It could've been anyone, really, but the damn guard had a problem with Kevin since ages ago and he just took the first excuse of a shitty chance he saw. Would've happened sooner or later anyway."

Sanji blinked at her and she locked eyes with him, leaning her head against the bars.

"Not your fault. Thanks for giving us a chance," she firmly stated as she saw a glint behind Sanji's visible eye, and her tone was sincere. "Kevin would've thanked you too, you know."

Then she stormed off and left Sanji stare at the corpse with a knot in his stomach. He pursed his lips and fought away the overwhelming feeling that was currently consuming him.

There were hundreds to be saved. He couldn't have avoided this. Both his jaw and his fists clenched, but he jerked himself to a standing position before he could allow himself to waste more time than needed. He walked out of the cell and stared at the two guards who had been standing by it. One of them had killed that man. The other had allowed it. Every single guard in that goddamn corridor had allowed the beating without blinking an eye.

Sanji glared at their figures and felt the sudden urge to kick their bodies, but his train of thought was put to a halt as he told himself he wouldn't be better than them if he did anything of the kind. He didn't know if Robin had merely put them to sleep or if she had actually killed them, but it didn't make a damn difference: he was _not_ going to kick down neither a corpse nor a defenseless man, and that was final. That's not how Zeff had raised him. That's not what he stood for. Not anymore, not for ages, and the time before that was to be forgotten and buried in the past, where it couldn't reach him.

He had to keep repeating that to himself as he strolled a few cells down towards a new one, trying to ignore the slightly concerned look Robin gave him. His troubled feelings were showing, that he was sure of.

He sighed and tried to keep them in as he popped his face in front of a new set of bars with a soothing smile that seemed to soothe everyone around him but himself.

"Good evening," he greeted.

* * *

"So?"

"So nothing, it's confusing."

"What the fuck."

"Either you stop giving me shit or I'm not going to be able to do my job. It would also help if you didn't knock everyone we cross into unconsciousness, _thank you very much_," Aila finally snapped, looking back at Zoro with a glare.

Zoro rolled his eyes and let his back fall against the marble wall, kicking at a discarded gun out of annoyance.

First thing they had checked had quite obviously been the throne hall, but they had found it plagued with soldiers and no trace of the king or the four guardians supposed to be with him.

His team had gotten rid of all of them without much effort, but they hadn't been too conservative about their display of violence, so their encounter had ended up with everyone knocked out and no useful brain for Aila to read in search of the king. After a tantrum, they had wiped the surrounding corridors, taking down their opponents without blinking an eye but apparently not catching onto the fact that Aila needed functioning brain cells to work with by the end of their encounters.

A few of them had been conscious enough for Aila to scan them, but their memories were confusing. Either they had no idea where the king was or their thoughts pointed at different places around the palace.

"I have a feeling that he has told them several different destinations so that we couldn't scan his position. Clever bastard," she groaned after knocking out the poor soul she had just been scanning.

"Well, someone must know _something_!" Zoro exclaimed, exasperated. He was stressed and it showed.

"We can just wreck the whole place down and bury him with it," Luffy casually shrugged, not catching onto the tense mood.

"No," both Aila and Zoro snapped at him.

Their team, consisting of six men and four women who could give each squad of soldiers a run for their money on their own, watched the ends of the corridor they were currently in, waiting for orders and sending curious glances at them every now and then. The last comment had earned a long judging one, although they didn't seem exactly as opposed to the idea as Zoro and Aila were.

"What then? We can't keep running around the place, it will take us ages and the cook doesn't have that much time. We need to take those bastards out before they can get to the prisoners, and we are already running late here," Zoro grumbled.

He was actually worried. Knowing Sanji the way he did, he knew he'd risk his own life two hundred times if it meant every single one of the hostages were set free, and he didn't need any of the guardians there to complicate things further. Sanji counted on them to take them out before they could catch onto what was going on, but as things were, they were making no improvements.

"And you think I don't know?!" Aila groaned. "I'm trying my best! Believe me when I say that I care about the people down there way more than you do."

Zoro frowned at her but he resorted to shutting up. She was partially right. Even though she probably didn't have a certain blonde's self-sacrificing nature in mind when assessing how (not) fast they were working on diminishing the danger, excuse her.

"I _do_ have him in mind. I know he'd jump in front of every single one of them, he's not that difficult to read, no need for telepathy here."

Zoro's gaze remained on the floor tiles, eye wide, as his heart caught in his throat. He forced his body not to give any signs of having acknowledged the fact that she had just read his mind in the middle of him worrying about the cook's safety like the obsessed bastard he was. That was something she was probably reading as well, but he kind of made it a point to think of something on the lines of 'mind your own damn business', see if she read that as well, caught the message and got off his back.

By the time he lifted his gaze she was scanning another half-conscious soldier, her attention far away from him.

He glanced at Luffy, but his captain looked merely restless. Not worried at all, his expression couldn't be chiller. It was just his body aching for an actual fight that kept his legs jerking every now and then as he waited, but that was about it. He was actually behaving, considering his usual pattern was to carelessly run around punching the living crap out of everyone he considered to be his enemy. Zoro supposed Sanji's warnings and self-sacrifice for things to go a certain safer way had reached a few of Luffy's functioning brain cells, after all.

Zoro subconsciously bit his lip, starting to feel the tension sip in his bloodstream.

They weren't being fast enough, though, and Sanji's plan required them to be so for it to work.

Aila suddenly jerked up.

"Got anything?" Luffy asked, rapidly interested. It was Luffy's voice that got Zoro's attention, since he hadn't really seen Aila moving as he had been too busy sulking at the wall in front of him.

"There's a bunch of soldiers coming from the west wing. Around sixty of them."

"Do we go meet them or do we wait for them here?" asked one of their team members.

"We'll stay here…" Aila muttered, not really putting much concentration on answering but rather analyzing something none of them had the hopes of perceiving.

"What is it?" Zoro pressed, growing impatient.

"These ones have been directed by someone."

"I fail to see how the ones whose asses we just kicked weren't too," Zoro muttered, annoyed by the second, not at Aila, but at the world. "Aren't they all supposed to be directed by someone?"

"If you're not a certified genius I'd suggest you didn't try to act like one," snapped Aila, scowling and sassing the hell out of Zoro because, really, he had asked for it, and his game was not good enough to deserve his pride remaining untouched if he had been intending to go all Einstein on someone who knew about triple the things he could ever hope to know in his lifetime. "Those have _just_ received orders. A few minutes ago. Our position has been revealed and they have just been sent to go after us since we have gotten rid of most of the forces who had initially been appointed around the palace."

"Okay, what of it?" asked one of the women they had been working with.

"Orders ultimately come from the king."

"So?"

"So the king has just recently decided to send them here, which means these soldiers either have received the order directly from the king or from an intermediator, who is in contact with him. From this distance it's not quite clear yet, I need them closer to fully read that part, else it's confusing. But there's definitely a higher-up order leading them here."

"Which means you can now track the king down," Luffy piped in. Zoro would have been scandalized that his captain had just finished the reasoning on his own when Zoro was still trying to catch up, but he'd be sadly mistaken if he mistook the raven haired boy for a complete idiot who couldn't do his mental math when it was needed.

"Exactly. Now, this time I want all of them _conscious_ by the end of the damn fight, are we clear on this?" Aila ordered, glaring at every one of them as if daring them to disobey her again. "I want minds to read not fucking scrambled eggs rotting inside a skull, is that translucent enough?"

"Yes ma'am," some of them answered.

Not Zoro. Definitely not Zoro. He didn't like being bossed around.

"If this goes well we'll have the king tracked down shortly. And _then_ you can go all out," Aila amended a bit, leaving them some space to actually do some harm, which they were going to do anyways, but she still came off as a bit more lenient, which was clever of her if she wanted them to obey. "How does that sound?"

"Not too bad," Luffy grinned.

* * *

Nami covered herself when lightening fell from the black clouds she had just created out of nowhere, right in time to jump out of the way before the attack hit their enemy square in the chest.

Her team got momentarily blinded and deaf as the storm raged above them only to disappear a few seconds later, their ears drumming with the sound of thunder even after it had stopped shaking the floor beneath them.

Nami blinked her eyes open, wary, and was rather surprised to see the guardian in a standing position, his body still and surrounded by smoke that smelled of burned skin. She had managed the hit. Two meters away, the kid who had been used to keep Nami's power at bay stood with a terrified expression painting his face, unharmed and trembling in shock. Two rather big holes surrounded him right where two strikes of lightning had reached, but they had managed to avoid him.

She had seen the chance the moment the guardian had lost his balance for a second, right after a set of continued attacks coming from different directions and people. The kid had been smart enough as to take the opportunity to jump out of his arms. He wouldn't have made it further than two steps away before the guardian had gotten a hold of him again if Nami hadn't done some incredibly fast decision-making and had unleashed hell above their heads, hoping with everything she had that her technique was precise enough as to avoid hitting the kid in the process when he was barely a meter away from her prey.

It had been precise enough, as things stood, and she was suddenly beaming in triumph. She had done it.

"Get the kid away from here!" she ordered at the men surrounding her, to which someone complied and took the brat in his arms, running away into what Nami thought was a random direction but was probably the safest place to run to. Or so she hoped.

She eyed the guardian with a deep lack of trust and ordered to get him chained up, just in case, even if he looked like he had just passed out for good. That if he wasn't dead already, not that she'd mind the difference too much with how shitty he had been by putting a kid's life, and the whole neighborhood's, on the line in order to win the stupid battle. Not with how he had been part of the whole scheme of imprisoning and torturing people for their whole lifetime in order to keep some talented individuals earning money for the crown. If he was dead, so be it.

Okay, she rather hated killing and she'd prefer it if the result of her attack hadn't been as fatal, but if it had, no one would catch her feeling guilty over it. Just that she doubted that man was dead whatsoever; she had a feeling that he was stronger than that. Thus why he was currently being chained up to a wall by a horde of men, civilians included.

"What now?" asked one of her team members as he jogged towards her. He sported an ugly injury in his face and Nami would have asked if he was okay but they didn't have time for that.

"Fire the warning signal. The yellow one; the one that indicates we have him down," Nami ordered, to which he nodded. "Then we'll wait for the others' response, see where they need our help."

It was a rather well thought system. Once one of the teams was done taking down their enemy, they were to shoot a yellow warning signal at the sky. It would both give away their position and indicate the fact that their job was done. If someone needed help, they'd fire a red one in response, which would lead the free teams to wherever they were in order to give them a hand and finish things faster. Plus, the whole system helped them establish a countdown and thus be able to assess how things were going in the bigger picture.

Sanji's team was to fire a green signal the moment the prisoners were out of the palace and a red one if they needed immediate help. Robin was in charge of spreading news around the castle by growing mouths and eyes around in order to see the progress being made outside and inform both her and Luffy's and Zoro's team of how things were going, since they were also behind closed doors and couldn't actually see the signals lighting up the sky. If Sanji's team needed absolutely urgent help, not only would she fire the red signal, but she would let Luffy know since he could bring help their way much faster.

Same for their captain's team. If they needed help with the king or if things turned ugly, they'd fire an orange sign that would let everyone distinguish if the one sending the message was the evacuation team or the target-the-king one. Bright white one if they succeeded.

Nami looked up at the sky, waiting for a signal in response to hers.

It didn't take more than a minute before a red one flashed against the dark clouds hiding in the night sky, coming from the west side of the city.

"Have you all seen that?" Nami called her team, who were already getting ready to go back to action. She received a good dose of nods. "Okay, some of you stay here and keep that bastard from moving an inch, if he does. The rest come with me."

And they were already running down the street when Nami heard another booming noise and turned around only to see a purple column of smoke rising above their heads from the opposite direction.

Nami frowned. Purple meant something was going wrong for the team firing that color, something rather unexpected; which basically meant anything bad that could possibly happen asides from having a bit of trouble or needing some backup against their opponent. She had a bad feeling about this.

She didn't have a way to know whose was Usopp's and Brook's signal and whose was Franky's, but she knew that purple had more weight than red and that the former should be taken care of first. She knew that whoever had fired the red one had only done so because one of the teams (Nami's) had signaled themselves as 'free to help where needed', especially because the red sign hadn't been fired up until now, which meant there hadn't been any real rush to get someone to go help them… hopefully.

Whoever had fired the red one would be fine, Nami told herself. She trusted her nakama and both of their teams were perfectly capable of kicking any guardian's ass, so she shouldn't worry about the red sign, really.

What _did_ worry her was the purple one. If the red sign was sort of a call, the purple one could be interpreted as a warning. It could mean a lot of things and she didn't know what the hell the problem could be out of the large spectrum of potential things to go wrong that didn't involve having direct trouble with the fight. She didn't really understand why, if there had been a need to fire the purple one at all, they hadn't done so until a yellow one had lightened the sky, almost as if they hadn't wanted to inconvenience anyone until someone was free; that didn't quite match the urgency the purple one was meant to convey.

Nami frowned harder, biting her lip. There was something off here.

"Okay, I want five of you to meet the red-light team. The others and I are meeting with the purple-light team right about now."

* * *

Robin blinked and hurried the prisoners from one of the 2nd floor cells she was currently letting out before jogging towards Sanji, who was unlocking another cell between hushed soothing promises. He gave her a sideways glance, quickly getting the message that she brought news, but focused on getting that one cell out before giving her his whole attention. As rude as it was to make a lady wait, they both knew what came first at the moment.

"I have both good and bad news, I guess," she muttered as they made their way to the still unattended cells.

Robin had a set of eyes sprouting around and inside the palace, which meant she kept permanent vigilance over what signals were being shot outdoors, giving her a rough idea of how the situation was in Terevera's streets. She also tried to keep track of what Luffy's team was doing inside the building, but her focus was divided and mostly centered on the people she had to free, which meant she had a bit of trouble following Luffy's and Zoro's team so long as they kept moving. Every time she focused her attention back on that team, she had to spend a few seconds sprouting eyes and ears on every surface she could sense until one of her sets managed to spot them. But that wasn't the problem here. Luffy's team was running around with the king nowhere in sight, last time she had checked. It was outside where things were happening.

"Good ones first?" Sanji half-heartedly smiled at her. They couldn't afford bad news, not with a floor and a half full of people whose safety could ultimately turn against each and every one of them.

"One of the guardians has been taken out outside."

"That's good. Bad ones?"

"A purple sign has been fired just now."

Sanji stopped in his tracks and looked at her, trying not to frown because frowning to a lady wasn't acceptable whatsoever, no matter how much her words had just sent a bugging feeling at the pit of his stomach.

"I suppose we don't happen to know why."

"Not really," Robin shook her head. "It could be anything. Better be prepared, just in case."

"Will you inform Luffy's team?"

A solid track of information running along all of the teams was absolutely essential for this to work. They needed to know the others' situations to adapt theirs to what was going on in the big picture.

Robin nodded and left him in front of a new cell as she went to take care of the opposite one. Sanji tried not to cringe as he forced himself to put on a reassuring mask before facing the new group of prisoners so as not to worry them unnecessarily.

"Good evening," he greeted, sounding as if nothing was wrong.

Just that it was. A purple sign could mean anything, really, and _anything_ wasn't good. Not at all. It could range from 'shit, we are surrounded and we might need a bit of urgent help, so forget about the red signals and get your ass here first' to 'one of us has died and now I have a corpse for a nakama what the fuck am I supposed to do' to… well, to 'we're busted, they saw through our plan and are now coming towards the palace' kind of bad, and Sanji didn't want to picture any of those as a possibility, though they all were. Who the fuck came up with the purple sign idea? That part of the plan hadn't actually been his, else he would've taken more meticulous care of its clearness. They had a fucking rainbow to pick colors from, it's not like they couldn't have tried to be more specific and have signs for all of those possibilities, especially for the last one. Mostly because his was the team who was running shortest of time and who would end up the most fucked up if the plan didn't go well. He didn't try to picture a color for the second option, telling himself they wouldn't need that. He'd kill the bastard who'd made them need that extra colour, dead or not. No way in hell, they weren't having casualties, that was just not happening and he wasn't going to deal with that shit.

Setting his musings aside, he had made it to a new cell, and he realized they were starting to get close to the end of the corridor. They needed to be faster.

He put on a soothing smile.

"Good evening."

* * *

Zoro barely restrained a shrieked gasp when he found a pair of lips sprouting right on the back of his hand, a set of eyes matching the apparition on his other hand as they stared directly at him with what he swore was slight amusement.

"Fuck, Robin," he groaned, clicking his teeth shut and forcing the shock away as he stopped dead in his tracks.

"Was that a shriek I heard, mister swordsman?" her lips curved into a smirk.

Zoro literally growled. "Fuck off. It was most certainly _not_. What do you want, woman?"

"Is that Robin?" Luffy called as he made his way backwards to where Zoro had stopped slaughtering people in order not to freak out at Robin's powers being used on his body out of nowhere. Zoro might be made of steel and stone and badass material and whatnot, but the sight of body parts growing on his own and staring back at him was, at the very least, disturbing, and totally something he could live without.

Luffy threw a punch without looking, discarding a man who had tried to attack Zoro from the back like he was nothing. Zoro didn't even flinch as Luffy's fist flew by his ear. _That_ was something he was used to.

"Know anyone else who can grow a fucking mouth on your hand?" he groaned.

Luffy invaded his personal space and stared at Robin's eyes with a glint of amazement and bemusement as Robin's blue orbs flickered towards him in acknowledgement. In Zoro's modest opinion, his captain enjoyed those freakish tricks way too much.

"Hi Robin!" Luffy grinned.

"What's up?" Zoro pressed after sending a fleeting glance at the fight being displayed a few meters away from them. They didn't have time for this shit, and Zoro was kind of craving joining the ass-kicking again, even though Aila and the rest of their team were doing more than fine on their own. Luffy didn't seem to give a damn.

"Okay, quick message, we have some news. One of the guardians has been defeated out in Terevera's streets."

"Peachy," Zoro absently muttered, his gaze sweeping the situation in front of him more than it was showing the fact that he was listening.

"Someone fired a purple signal," Robin swiftly added, and Zoro had to do a mental double-take, his whole attention back on her, because he momentarily couldn't place a meaning on the signal. If Luffy's scrunched up eyebrows were anything to go by, he didn't have a clue either.

"Mmm… Purple was bad, right?"

"Purple is bad indeed. But uncertain. We don't know what's wrong out there, but it's bad enough as for someone to have fired it, so let's all be cautious," Robin clarified, her tone serious.

Zoro felt a rock drop in his stomach as he locked eyes with Luffy, who was sporting a grave expression.

"Roger. Thanks Robin," Luffy firmly answered without lifting his gaze from Zoro, Robin's cue to let her mouth and eyes disappear from Zoro's hands with a flutter of petals, _thanks fuck_. Damn that creepy woman.

"So?" Luffy inquired.

"So we need to hurry the fuck up," Zoro spat, throwing himself into action before finishing the sentence, only to be followed suit by Luffy, who seemed to wholeheartedly agree with Zoro's suggestion.

Something had gone wrong for one their teams and they could only hope it wouldn't directly affect their own mission, much less Sanji's. For fuck's sake, don't let it affect Sanji's. God knows the bastard would let himself be sliced in half if that meant he could keep the hostages safe and sound, and Zoro swore he would have none of it.

He didn't consider the possibility of someone in their crew having died, which he vaguely remembered being mentioned when meanings were being given to each signal, right around the time Zoro hadn't been quite paying attention because, one, he was that kind of lazy bastard, and two, he had been too worried obsessing over Sanji's wounds to really focus on anything else. But it didn't really matter, because that was simply _not_ a possible outcome; Zoro's brain wasn't fathoming it nor would it do so anytime soon.

Which only left him with the dreadful feeling that something might be coming their way.

Fuck, they really didn't have time for this. Where the hell was the king?!

* * *

"Usopp?!"

Usopp whipped around and his features softened into slight relief, even though tension was clearly visible from where Nami stood.

"Thank God no one's dead," she sighed as she ran a hand through her hair, mentally crossing the loss of a nakama off the list of possibilities. Again, _thank God_.

"Hello, Nami, may you show me your panties?" Brook cheerfully greeted, which Nami pointedly ignored, stopping in front of Usopp instead and trying to gather what was wrong out of the look he was giving her, because she sure as hell couldn't see any mortal danger whatsoever nearby.

"Did you take your guardian out?" Usopp asked in a bit of a hurry. There was something similar to alarming worry tinting his voice, and it had nothing to do with Nami's situation.

"Yes, that was us. What's wrong?" she pressed, briefly looking around them. Her men were doing the same, sporting confused expressions. There was nothing but defeated soldiers around them. "Why the purple one? I don't see anything here, Usopp, and Franky must've been the one to fire the red signal, which means he's also in a bit of a tight spot, so…"

"Exactly."

"Exactly what?"

"There's nothing here. There hasn't been anything from the start," Usopp gravely informed.

Nami blinked in his general direction. "Well, now I'm lost. What's the problem again?"

"There's no third guardian, Nami. He hasn't appeared."

They looked at each other, a furrow mirroring Usopp's in Nami's face as a heavy weight settled in her stomach.

"If he isn't here… where is he?"

"Well, I was hoping one of your teams would have encountered him or at least know something; that's what I wanted to check by firing the purple signal, but…"

Usopp gave Nami a meaningful look. The redhead was fast to shake her head.

"My team hasn't seen him."

The snipper pinched his nose, gritting his teeth.

"Well, that's _great_."

"Maybe Franky's has. Maybe he _is_ in the streets and you've just been unlucky."

"As things stand now, I highly doubt it, to be honest. Brook and I have been doing some major harm to their troupes. Knowing his comrades were taking care of the other teams, if he hasn't appeared by now, he most likely won't any time soon."

"And?"

It was obvious, really, and Nami knew it; there was one major fear they all shared, and paranoia was fast to bring it back to the very front of their minds.

"He… could be anywhere, really, but…"

"What if he has caught up with our plan?" Brook cut in, intent on voicing what they were all thinking out loud once and for all. It wasn't as much formulated as a question as it sounded like a statement.

Nami bit her lip and Usopp shifted in a nervous manner.

"Then he's probably on his way to the palace… if he isn't there already," their snipper concluded with a tight tone.

"No, any of the teams there would have already fired a signal, if anything, he's heading there," Nami dismissed, but the bugging feeling was creeping in her stomach by the moment.

"Okay, fine, sounds plausible, but let's not panic," Usopp conceded, sounding quite panicked despite the reassuring words. "He may have been ordered to back up the king's defense, that's what makes more sense. I doubt that bastard has thought of the prisoners at all, and the guardians follow what he orders."

"The king most likely hasn't thought of that, but the guardian might have," Nami opposed.

"Then, what? Last thing we know he was ordered to be here, and the only realistic counter-order he may have received is to go back to protect him. Is he disobeying the king and acting on his own?"

"If he knows what's best for his team, which the king doesn't, then probably yes."

"Excuse me, my dearest nakama, but if we are toying with a 'probably yes', what are we waiting for? It's better to be safe than sorry, isn't it?" Brook butted in yet again, his tone polite and relaxed as always, but both the navigator and the snipper had the feeling those words were a veil to 'get your goddamn shit together'. Listen to the elders, they say. Yes, they probably should.

"Shit, if that's the case, he will get to the palace before we can stop him," Nami snapped, suddenly feeling trepidation kick in and break the static tension they had been submerged in. it was time to react, not to analyze.

"Mmm, no matter if it's the king or the prisoners he is coming back for, that may present a problem indeed," Brook distractedly singsonged.

"We need to warn them," Usopp gritted.

"We already fired a purple signal, we don't have anything more specific than that."

"If Sanji is half as clever and paranoid as I reckon him to be, he'll probably have half his mind expecting this possibility," Usopp muttered as he paced around.

"Half a mind isn't enough, they need to _know_ what's coming their way. Plus, it's still a possibility that he's only heading there to help defend the king, and I can swear to God neither Luffy nor Zoro will have caught up with that. I highly doubt they even remember the meaning of the purple signal."

"Fair enough," Brook chuckled.

"Stop sounding so carefree, I am trying to think here," Usopp groaned in frustration.

"You are a snipper. May I suggest you fire the purple signal in the palace's general direction? Robin is our contact, so even if the others don't understand what you're trying to convey, she will, and she can let everyone know. It's pretty straightforward," the talking skeleton proposed.

Usopp was already firing.

"They'll still need some backup," Nami groaned as she watched a purple line trace the sky.

"Then we better get going. Fast."

* * *

"Sanji!"

Sanji whipped around half-way while descending the stairs down to the third floor underground, leading the evacuation team. The upper floors had already been evacuated and the freed prisoners were currently being led out through Sanji's route by a few men who Sanji had appointed to do so. Only the third floor remained, and he couldn't help but cringe at the rather loud whisper Robin sent his way: they hadn't yet reached the cells corridor, which meant they still had to take the guards standing there by surprise, and revealing their position by being anything but silent wouldn't help them achieve that.

He waited for her to make it passed the arena fighters tailing him. The moment her hand landed on his shoulder, he knew it was bad news. Not that the sudden call of his name hadn't been a hint.

"If I interpreted the message right, a guardian is currently coming towards the palace."

Sanji's healthy eye widened. The cut one hurt under the bandages due to the strain.

"Shit."

"He may be trying to get to the king, which would still give us a margin, but we can't count on luck. We need to be fast," Robin exposed, her expression serious and only partially calm. "Do you want me to tell Luffy's team?"

Sanji stared at her for a moment. He knew why she asked first. And she had been right to do it.

"No need for that, my dear," he carefully smiled at her. "They can totally deal with a surprise attack if it comes to that, and if they know they'll only try to come down here to help instead of doing their job. We need them to take care of the king and the other guardians first, no distractions. I can deal with a guardian on my own if he ends up coming here, don't worry. Plus, whoever fired the signal is probably coming back to lend a hand anyway. We're fine."

Robin nodded. They both knew what this was about. They both knew there was an 80% chance Luffy's team wouldn't encounter a surprise attack. They both knew Sanji had just decided to go solo again, if it came to that. The rest of the team would be busy getting the prisoners out of there and having their backs. Sanji had just put himself in charge of having _everyone's_ backs by himself, that's what Robin's question had intended to clear and what Sanji's little reassurance had been all about.

And Robin, knowing better than to argue with someone as stubborn as him, had no objections.

She didn't wait for Sanji to tell her to go ahead. She jumped down the stairs in a hurry with their team swiftly following her in complete silence, only their restrained breaths giving away the fact that they were now tense and worried.

Sanji watched Robin's back as she crossed her arms in their telltale pose right at the corner that led to the corridor. He stared at the petals fluttering around her in a weird anxious trance and listened to the quiet yet deafening crack that signaled the fact that her job was done.

After that, they all rushed towards the cells, quieting down the startled prisoners as they made quick job of opening the cells and dragging them out with much less tact than before. They were in a serious hurry and they didn't have time to waste with over-soothing those poor souls.

"Want to get outta here? Then pull your shit together and start running towards where you are directed," he heard one of his teammates growl as he yanked a whinny kid from his sitting position at the corner of a cell.

A brief double take told Sanji that the kid was legit struggling with getting up at all with how underfed and bruised he was, but this was a matter of survival now, so he didn't bother on telling anyone to chill and let those poor people have a breather. They didn't have time for one.

The feeling of waiting for an imminent attack as time slipped out of their hands by the second took over the corridor for agonizing minutes, everyone's movements rushed and jerky with trepidation.

But they managed.

The last bunch of prisoners was being led out of that hell and Sanji was surveying the process by the doorframe, at the foot of the stairs. He had planned a separate escape route for each of the floors so that they wouldn't have to go all the way back up every time in order to leave, which granted less unwanted encounters if someone came looking from upstairs. As for the third floor, they had to head downstairs until they reached the fifth floor and take a set of narrow corridors that ended up merging with the upper floors' secret ones, where the other floors' prisoners would end up in as well. Those would eventually lead them outside.

Sanji was familiarized enough with these kind of buildings as to know there had to be a secret way out buried behind walls, they _always_ had one, and that's exactly what he had been deciphering in his solo incursion hours before, right before scaring the shit out of the king and setting his plan into motion. After thorough inspection and the use of a sixth sense he had been born with, he had discovered that, not only was the palace fully connected by a set of secret tunnels, but they were dusty enough as to reveal no one had used them for years; which meant that the king most likely didn't even know of their existence (the palace had been built centuries before that bastard's birth and the man was dense enough as to not have even questioned if such a thing existed in the place he lived in or not), and thus he wouldn't be able to track them down on their way out even if they were busted, at least not once the prisoners had made it into the hidden portion of the palace.

He impatiently tapped his foot against the floor, counting each head that made it through the door, wishing they would be faster, because he swore he could _feel_ the threat coming his way.

He most definitely felt it when it arrived.

It was sudden. The foretelling knot in his stomach should have been enough of a warning, but it had stayed there for so long that he hadn't been able to tell when it had shifted from tension and deep worry to an alarm bell. Maybe it hadn't. He'd probably be utterly wrong if he thought his enemy had let himself be sensed before he was right at his back.

And that's exactly where he was when Sanji's stomach dropped in a free fall out of nowhere in premonition half a second before one of the prisoners who had stopped to thank him looked passed him and shrieked.

Sanji turned around like lightning with a gasp trapped in his lungs and was faced with the flash of a man, whose height was way passed two meters, staring down at him with an unimpressed expression and a calm stance ten steps above him.

"Thought so," the guardian stated in what could only be described as resignation and maybe boredom.

Sanji didn't think. Next thing he knew his leg was on fire and he had landed one of his strongest kicks against the man's torso, sending him flying back and upwards, breaking through the ceiling with enough force as to end up landing two floors above their heads.

"_Get them out!_" he roared over his shoulder, not even bothering on turning around to check if Robin had gotten the message before he was already kicking his way right after his enemy.

Who was throwing himself at him in an attempt to get back to the floor he had just been kicked away from.

Sanji gathered all of his strength in order to kick him back up half-drop, breaking through another upper floor and viciously flying his way there before the guardian had time to try to go back again.

"Fuck," he groaned as he felt his back start to protest half a second after the deep cut in his leg had reopened with a flash of deafening pain.

* * *

Robin made sure the last of the prisoners had made it passed the door and was currently heading downstairs before turning around to survey the damage caused where there used to be a set of stairs. Now it was flooded with pieces of ceiling. Sanji had just disappeared after the guardian, and everything had become chaos. The prisoners couldn't run fast enough, yells and cries had broken upon the previous tense silence they had been keeping, and the arena fighters were having trouble keeping it down and leading them the right way.

She had half a mind into following the blonde and giving him a hand, especially given his condition, but she kept herself in check at the last second. Sanji had a way of playing his own game that Robin could only hope to burden given how the cook would end up more concerned about protecting her than himself, even if she could handle her own. Moreover, she was needed down there, with the prisoners. Chopper was too busy keeping the most injured ones walking; if someone was to directly protect them and direct the operation while Sanji was gone, that was her.

It didn't take more than a few seconds for her to reach a fast conclusion. Next thing her brain processed, she was closing her eyes and opening them on the bricks of one of the highest towers, the impressive view of Terevera's night lights, along with explosions and fires every few miles, greeted her. She shook her arms a bit and regained contact with the sets of hands holding different types of guns attached to the outter wall and the windows. One for each color. She took control of the one on the left, and she fired twice, an extra one for emphasis.

She blinked her eyes open and hurried behind the evacuation team, forcing herself not to do a double-take on Sanji's situation, not even when she heard the sound of walls and floors crumbling over their heads.

* * *

A red signal flew its way up the sky, cutting it in half in a perfect deadly line. It was followed by an identic one which only managed to intensify the color, vaguely reminding the witnesses of blood.

Nami raised her gaze, barely stopping her sprint across the city. By the swear words spreading around her, the rest had seen it too.

It came straight from the highest point in the palace.

"Shit."

**TBC**

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**A/N: **my deepest apologies for updating this late! To be honest I hadn't thought I would update for a long time since work and school have been pretty stressing and leaving me with not much to no time to write, so I had assumed I wouldn't be finishing this chapter for a long while. Turns out I got a small breather and a sudden burst of inspiration, so I managed to at least complete this one, which I am really happy about! School is still pretty intense so it will probably take a while for me to write another chapter, but I'll definitely keep working on it when I can!

I really hope you liked this one! Thank you so much for all your kind and encouraging comments, and for following this story, it makes me really happy and motivates me a lot!

Have a good weekend!


	39. Chapter 39 - Collapse

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**Chapter 39**

**Collapse**

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Sanji flew through falling rocks right after the guardian, gritting his teeth at the uncomfortable feeling at the bottom of his back, where that problematic wound had been giving him trouble for so long.

He had to keep him away from the people he was trying to save, else he would use them against his team and they would automatically lose.

He didn't get a breather. Before he knew it, the massive beast of a man was throwing a punch at him midair, right before landing on solid ground, and Sanji was being propelled down to a lower floor, his back hitting a mountain of debris with a crack that had him stifling a yell. _His goddamn back._

He saw the guardian throwing himself passed him towards the lower floors through the open holes his own body had created after becoming Sanji's new foot ball. That's as far as he made it before Sanji was kicking sideways, harshly stopping him in his deliberate fall and throwing him against the nearest wall in that same floor.

The guardian groaned in annoyance. He was already getting up when Sanji kicked at the mountains of debris around him, followed by the walls and pieces of ceiling. His opponent dodged every rock about to fall on him, so did Sanji, but the effort put in escaping the hell the chef had turned that place in for a few moments distracted him from what was really going on.

By the time Sanji kicked himself away from the guardian to make sure he had enough space to react to his attacks as he caught his breath, any direct way down was blocked by rocks and steel or wooden beams. The space they were in was unrecognizable. Sanji was rather surprised he hadn't ended up making the whole place and the upper floors crumble down on them for good: he had been lucky and had managed to keep something resembling a structure around them, something that had prevented them from being buried alive. The ceiling was now three floors above them; everything under that had been destroyed, but at least the important pillars and walls remained standing, and Sanji had to be thankful for that.

Buried alive wasn't a good way to die. He could attempt to defend he hadn't really thought it through, that he had been too blinded by the need to put some physical barrier between the guardian and the escaping prisoners to realize that what he had just done could have ended up with him dead in the process, but that would be lying. His intention had been exactly that, but he _had known_ he was betting and putting his own life at stake with that move. He just hadn't given a fuck. He wasn't about to let innocent people die because he was afraid to put his own life on the line.

"Motherfucker."

His attention snapped back to the guardian, who had finally managed to stabilize himself above a pile of rocks. For someone as big as him it must have been quite hard to move with agility on such a suddenly uneven and rocky ground.

Sanji smirked. Great.

Just that his back was hurting again and the cut in his leg had reopened and was definitely screaming at him to fucking chill before it decided to give out on him. He most definitely felt the threat his own body was posing to him when he dodged the next attack, giving himself the time to analyze his enemy's fighting style, which he needed to pinpoint as soon as possible in order to draw an offensive strategy.

Damn, he'd need to finish him soon if he didn't want his own body to defeat him first.

* * *

Robin ran across a set of corridors that were slowly becoming labyrinthine, right at the end of the escaping procession that consisted of the last floor of escapees they had liberated.

She couldn't hear the fight above their heads anymore. There had been a booming crumbling sound that had given the impression the whole building would be falling on them in the blink of an eye, but that had happened a while ago already. By now they had already reached the hidden portion of the castle, which contained a map of secret corridors connecting each floor and room there was to connect and would end up leading them outside. Their pace wasn't exactly fast, not with how many underfed and injured people they were trying to keep on moving.

Robin was pretty sure they weren't going to be found out even if the guardian made it past Sanji since no one working under the king's orders, not even the king, knew of the existence of that part of the palace, but she still felt the urgency to get out of there as fast as possible; if the guardian managed to elude Sanji (she wasn't going to entertain the thought of him defeating their chef), he'd be looking for the huge group of people they were trying to evacuate, and there was only so much they could do to hide them once they were outside in the open; he'd end up finding them if he looked hard enough, because 'outside in the open' meant away from the palace and relatively safer than inside, but also more visible and much more easily trackable. That's why the key of Sanji's plan had laid on every single team doing quick job of taking out the guardians. They had to be defeated or in the process of being so before the prisoners made it outside, else they risked them starting to look around the palace and hunting down the group. Sanji was right, protecting two hundred people without a single casualty on their side was near impossible if they didn't eradicate the threat beforehand.

She frowned in worry. It had been a while since she had news from Luffy's team. What were they doing? Taking into account the fact that the warning of the guardian's arrival had come from the streets, it was safe to say none of the four guardians their captain's team had to take down had escaped them yet. The guardian who had just surprised them mid-escapade came from the group sent to Terevera, and he had most likely disobeyed the king, demonstrating he was way cleverer than his boss, inconveniently so. As things were, there was still a guardian running wild in Terevera and another one fighting Sanji and willing to tear all the prisoners apart, while the four protecting the king were yet to be defeated, or found for that matter. At least that she knew; she hadn't checked on Luffy's team for a while now with the surprise attack and everything. Her frown deepened. There were no good news to be given to anyone, in fact, things weren't going how they should've, everyone was taking way too long, and the prisoners were starting to near the exit, which would leave them exposed for a while, at least until they had covered enough distance for them not to be easy targets. They couldn't have them out in the open if they hadn't made sure at least _most_ of the threats were out of the picture and, at the moment, all of them minus one were still causing them trouble. Sanji wouldn't be happy. _Robin_ wasn't happy.

She sprouted sets of eyes on every available surface she sensed around the castle until she glimpsed a flash of green in passing. There they were.

* * *

"Zoro, what are you doing?"

Zoro stopped right before hitting a wall face first, startled again by the sudden appearance of a pair of blue eyes staring at him with something he thought was a reprimanding glare. Wow, was Robin angry? She had sounded angry. Shit.

"What's wrong?"

"Where's the king?"

"Robin! Hi, how is your team doing?!" Luffy stopped right by Zoro's side and their whole team took the chance to stay still and breathe. They had been running around for a while now.

"Captain, where's the king?"

Zoro frowned at Robin's irises. What was that? She had dodged the question. And there was urgency in her voice.

"What's the problem?" Aila asked, making her way towards them until she spotted the pair of lips and eyes staring back at her from the marble wall. "Oh, Robin. We have his position… I believe. If our lead is correct, then he's at the west wing of the palace, third floor. It's one of the best situated rooms when it comes to barricading someone and impeding an external attack."

"Great, then please hurry. We need those guardians out of the picture as soon as possible," Robin urged, her tone a bit more placated but still demanding. It wasn't exactly like her; she'd normally keep her calm under all circumstances, and she didn't sound calm at all, not if you knew her well enough. Somebody else, such as Aila, might have mistaken her tone for a bored one, but Zoro knew better.

"What's wrong?" he repeated, pressing.

Robin's eyes flicked towards him.

"We don't have time, go do your job. Fire the signal as soon as you have those four down. I'll keep you informed."

A flutter of petals bloomed around them and all traces of their archaeologist disappeared from sight, which had Zoro cursing out loud.

"_Fuck_, come on, let's finish this," he groaned as he pushed Luffy ahead of him. He felt uneasy. Robin had been keeping things from them, and that could only mean bad news. It was no secret that she was trying to keep them focused on their targets by hiding certain information, she had seen it in her eyes.

Well, he had no way to know _what_ was wrong, but he didn't need a printed explanation for him to get to work. Damn, they had wasted too much time.

Sanji would be fuming.

* * *

Franky shot a yellow signal over his head and watched it light the sky. It had taken him ages, but his guardian was now down.

He stared at the man laying on the floor, passed out and definitely not waking up for a while. It barely took a few seconds before a group of civilians and arena fighters were dragging him away towards some solid surface they could chain him against in an attempt to restrain him if he were to wake up.

It hadn't been immediate, but citizens had started helping them out. Most of them had been plainly scared at first, and small groups of brave man had even gone after Franky's team with vice. Official news were that the Strawhats had been messing up with the Crown and thus their country, so it didn't come as a surprise that their first reaction had been to call the authorities on them every time they saw them or directly try to attack them when they crossed them, but there had been a point were all they could feel was confusion, not to anyone's surprise; believe what they might, facts were laid out in front of them for them to see, and the facts remained that the ones blowing up their houses and not giving a damn about accidentally killing them weren't the Strawhats or the arena fighters but the guardians who had once sworn to protect them.

The king's crimes against the many people they held obligated to him by keeping their families chained underground weren't known to the majority of Terevera's average citizens. That kind of information never reached their ears, so their reasonable understanding of the situation of the country was that it was a prosperous one thanks to the Crown's efforts. The fighters they cheered for on a weekly basis were idols to them, not forced prisoners risking their lives for nothing. There was nothing wrong with their country, nothing that they knew of. They lived happily enough, they had never cared.

Just that now they did. Even if they didn't know what was going on, they did know that the king's men were currently killing their people and destroying their homes, and there's just so much your average citizen can tolerate before deciding the authorities he had once admired aren't worth of such admiration. Whatever explanations they were given later, someone had to stop that madness and the Strawhats seemed to be trying to do just that, so they had ended up helping, simple as that.

It's funny how people's beliefs and fidelities can switch from one side to the other in the blink of an eye, how once it's them who are affronted they are willing to do something about it where they would have pretended to ignore it had it been someone else the one to suffer harm.

_Whatever_, Franky thought. Right now it was convenient.

Franky stared back at the sky, where the last traces of yellow smoke disappeared into the night. His eyes ended up falling back on the palace's silhouette. There hadn't been anymore signals fired, but he had seen the purple one flying its way through the night towards the palace, and he had seen the red ones glaring down at them from the highest point of the building. They needed help up there… but he was too far away, he wouldn't make it in time even if he tried. By the time he got there everything would already be decided.

He knew whoever had fired the first purple signal had received help from the first free team covering Terevera's streets, if the lack of backup Franky had received after shooting a red one was anything to go by. That could only mean both teams were heading there, which should be enough.

He had honestly not expected things to end up with them needing backup at the palace, their plan was to go smoother, but plans didn't always go as initially thought. He had yet to see any signals informing him of any kind of success inside the palace; _that_ was a problem. Luffy's team, at least, should have already done their job. It wasn't their captain's team that was having trouble, it hadn't been them who had fired the signal, but Sanji's. Which was the worst kind of signal that could have been shot. He frowned. What was Luffy's team doing? If they hadn't needed to ask for help, why hadn't they succeeded yet? They should've already; a huge part of their success depended on them doing quick job of those four bastards guarding the king, and that was about the last thing they were doing if the lack of signals on their part was anything to go by.

Sanji's team, on the other hand… they were fucked. If his suspicions were right, one of Terevera's guardians had attacked them, which was bad, and they had no news of them having managed to completely evacuate yet. Knowing that there were four more guardians wandering the palace unharmed, Franky wasn't feeling the least bit reassured, but he knew better than to doubt his nakama. Sanji was with the evacuation team and he'd do his best to keep any threats away from the prisoners (which was worrying in itself but at least ensured those people's survival); and Luffy's team _could_ do it if they pulled their shit together. Terevera was covered and extra help was being sent towards the palace, so it shouldn't be that bad.

Hopefully.

Franky blinked at a group of people trying to lift a huge mountain of beams and rocks that had once been part of a building in an attempt to rescue whoever had been buried inside, hoping they would save more lives than retreat dead bodies out of there.

Franky sighed.

The palace was covered. He was needed here, helping the poor souls caught in the crossfire.

He strode his way towards the pile of debris and did quick job of them. A child cried for help from the inside, barely protected by a remaining beam which had scarcely stopped rocks from falling on him.

Franky breathed in relief:

First survivor located, and keep counting.

* * *

Sanji was punched so hard in the face that he didn't even know where or how he fell, but it was his head that took the impact first, quite violently so. Shit, he should've tried to protect it better. On top of it, it had been the side of his face where his injured eye was that had been on the receiving end of the punch. _Fuck._ He could feel the stitches popping out and his chances of having a pair of useful eyes at the end of the day diminishing drastically. Through the overcoming dizziness he barely registered the guardian coming at him at full force, but it was enough to give himself a sharp order and move aside, stumbling on his way towards the furthest end of the room as the wall he had been leaning against was destroyed. Damn it, his balance hadn't come out unscratched, he barely knew where was up or down. He vaguely remembered holding a solid reason for protecting his face whenever he fought: if you get hit bad enough, you're as good as a brick when it comes to keeping on fighting.

He made an effort to pull his brain cells back to attention as he tried to focus on the distorted figure of the guardian charging back at him. This time he had the mind to wait. He had been observing his opponent long enough to know that his fighting style resembled a bull's: he charged in full force, swinging his fists first (which were big enough to crunch skulls on their wake), and he relied on his punches landing where he had initially aimed or at least grazing limbs in the process. One of his fists _grazing _anything could very well destroy it, and hadn't Sanji been made of something other than superhuman strength himself, he might have already had half of his bones crushed; but he _was_ strong, and he knew how to dodge. Apparently not the last time, the intense throbbing in his face reminded him, but that had been his own fault, really.

He had been trying something, and he had miserably failed, but the idea stood as valid and worth giving it another try. That bastard attacked with so much force and in such a direct way that it was almost impossible for him to change the trajectory of his blows last second, which ended up with his fists buried inside walls or against the floor 90% of the time; which lead to serious property damage considering how half the structures he punched crumbled or sported a huge hole after he had done a number on them. Sanji had been trying to use it against him. There were parts of the building that were pretty much irrelevant and could be destroyed without affecting the structure (it had mainly been those that Sanji had torn down when blocking any exits, relying on sheer luck more than actual knowledge of what those were, which had luckily granted a stable assemblage around them and a still solid ceiling three floors above them while the rest were mostly destroyed); but there were parts that were vital. If those were taken down, big chunks of structure would follow suit, if not the whole wing, but Sanji would have to be particularly jinxed for him to manage to hit one of those spots, not to mention they were supposed to be solid enough not to crumble that easily.

His plan was to use one of his enemy's punches for him to destroy one of the most sensitive spots and have what remained of the first one or two floors' ceilings above them fall on him. Or something like that. Sanji didn't know architecture for saving his life, so he didn't know exactly how that would go down, nor did he know where those spots were and which ones he didn't even want to get near of if he didn't fancy the whole wing falling on him, but it was a plan nonetheless. He had been trying his luck at several different walls and areas, standing in front of them and waiting until the last second to dodge, but all he had managed so far were pieces of wall disappearing in an explosion, huge holes in them, and the guardian's fists starting to bleed badly enough for it to be a bit of an eyesore. It was one of those times where he had reacted a tad too late and had found a fist colliding against his face, which currently had him having serious trouble fixing his gaze on his charging enemy and not seeing double.

Shit, he needed his senses to be sharper.

It was a second before the punch landed against his head with crushing intent that he took a fast step aside, resulting with said punch colliding against the wall and gifting it with the same doom the others had gone through. Just that this time Sanji added to it, willing his plan with a bit of extra strain. He jumped and kicked a meter above their heads, adding to the impact and successfully making the whole wall and part of the remaining piece of ceiling attached to it fall on them. Sanji was expecting the outcome, so he dodged the falling structure, but the guardian sure as hell hadn't been, and his body was still hunched forwards and practically through the wall after having landed the punch, which ended up with him buried under a pile of rocks.

Sanji heard the scream getting muffled by sheer impact and a tone of debris, but he didn't have time to determine if it was a final one or not.

The combined collision had caused more drastic effects than initially planned, though; either Sanji or the bastard of an opponent he had been stuck with had managed to hit one of the only spots they _shouldn't_ have; _what was his luck_.

What should have resulted in a huge hole in a wall and part of the remaining ceiling (which had already fallen for the most part) falling on them, ended up dismantling the whole structure. Turns out the wall they had just destroyed was the outer wall to the east wing of the palace, and turns out they managed to destroy one of its main pillars or some shit like that, because, suddenly, the whole retainer up to the top floor, and thus past the still intact ceiling three floors above them and the following upper ones, fell. It crumbled like a cards castle would, and Sanji watched with restrained horror how the several layers of floors and ceilings above them collapsed one after another until he could actually squint passed plunging masses of debris and pieces of walls and floors (which must've been meters wide) and see the outside.

The sky appeared above him, shining stars peeking from after black clouds which meddled in with the night. It would've been a beautiful sight hadn't it been terrifying. Anything is potentially better if the whole structure of a _whole _palace wing isn't falling on you, to be honest.

Shit.

There was too much collapsing detritus for him to possibly dodge it all.

Oh, well.

He clearly hadn't thought this through. His action plan was _bullshit_. That's why he hated being hit in the head; fuck ups happened and Sanji wasn't exactly fond of them.

* * *

Zoro gritted his teeth when he felt the floor shake beneath him, almost as if the whole palace was about to give in, just that it didn't. He took a second too long blinking in bewilderment once everything went quiet again, because his enemy took the chance and attacked first right after recomposing himself faster than Zoro.

He felt it coming with barely enough time to dodge, but he still jumped to the side and tried to land an attack of his own, which his opponent blocked before putting some distance in between them.

No, that's not what he was doing. He had lead Zoro away from the closed doors behind which Luffy had managed to corner the king and a guardian.

They had finally found them.

Sure enough, Aila's scanning had given them satisfactory results which had led them to the room the king was hiding himself in. It was probably meant to have been a huge library or office of sorts, big enough to host hundreds of avid readers if needed, at least from what Zoro had seen when he had caught a glimpse of it the moment Luffy had unceremoniously kicked the doors open and barged in.

When they had arrived, the whole corridor was plagued with soldiers, way stronger than the first hordes they had been fighting; of course they would be. The king was obsessed enough with his own life to make all the wrong choices and forget to put some of his men where the Strawhats' target actually was, which had initially been convenient but had turned out to be a hassle when they'd had to face what looked like thoroughly trained assassins in soldiers' clothes before having any real possibility of getting near the doors guarding the king.

Luffy had punched his way through along with Zoro's own slicing and their whole team's wild attacks. It had taken them about five long minutes to overpower them, and just as they were managing to, two of the guardians had exited the guarded library in order to assist their clearly about-to-be-defeated men. That had complicated things, and Zoro hadn't been happy. Luffy was exhilarated to be able to engage an actual challenging fight, which was obvious with the way he yelled and whooped around throwing punches and kicks at pretty much anything that crossed him, not to mention the wolfish grin that had split his face in two when he had seen the guardians emerge for the first time.

Zoro could feel the familiar surge of adrenaline and predatory trepidation that got to his head every time he fought a clear challenge, but his brain didn't agree with his body's eagerness. He was eager to finish this crap, that's what he was. He was so beyond done with Terevera's bullshit. He couldn't wait for the moment they'd leave that shitty island behind, the clock wasn't moving fast enough to his taste. But what certainly wasn't moving fast enough were _results_. For fuck's sake, they should have already completed their job! Something was wrong; Robin had hinted at it, and he had the mind to know that every second those guardians stayed alive was an increased risk Sanji and his team were taking. There were hundreds of prisoners whose lives depended on them and, what's worse, hundreds of prisoners Sanji would jump in front of to protect if a single one of those monsters managed to read through their plan and attacked where it would actually hurt them most. The moment the first two guardians had appeared, he swore they had done so surrounded by a proverbial gospel choir of angels. Thank fuck. Had taken them long enough.

Zoro and the rest of his team had managed to distract them enough while getting rid of the last of the still standing soldiers and had granted Luffy an opening he had taken every last bit of advantage he was able to as he finally got to the doors and kicked them open. That caused a third guardian to try and push his captain back, but Zoro had been expecting it and his actions were faster than the guardian's reaction span. Before he had a chance to land a punch on Luffy, Zoro had viciously thrown himself at him, forcing him to dodge towards the corridor instead of back inside. Luffy managed to fling himself inside, and then Zoro was closing the doors behind him with a slam, turning around his heels with all of his swords ready to attack, his back to the entrance and ready to keep anyone from barging in before Luffy had done his job.

That had earned him the third's guardian undivided attention, and the battle had turned into a raw demonstration of what hell probably felt like if the high amount of close calls and painful blows were anything to go by. Sanji had been right, those bastards were not to be shitted with.

The rest of his team had divided into two and were joining their efforts to keep the other guardians at opposite ends of the corridor, attacking at once and preventing them from getting near Zoro's own fight and thus the doors, which were his job to guard.

Zoro didn't have time to breathe or process much else than the fight at hand, so he wasn't too sure of how it was going for Luffy, since he could barely make out other sounds that weren't his own ragged breathing or the guardian's movements. It was admittedly thrilling, truly stirring, and his body was aching with the need to go wild, an unconscious hellish grin taking over his features; but his brain kept its figurative feet on the ground and was actually growing anxious with each second that passed without him defeating that bastard or Luffy announcing a victory.

He heard one of the teams, Aila's, of course, yell in celebration and he casted a sidelong glance towards their end of the corridor to verify they had indeed taken out their guardian. With Aila's ability to mess with people's heads and use them against oneself, it was bound to end up well, he thought.

The moment she raised her head and sought his gaze, he was back into his game, since he'd had his head almost chopped off because of the slight distraction, which he couldn't allow. He was engaging his own opponent savagely yet calculatedly at the same time, much like Zoro's usual style. The bastard had gone all out after realizing one of his friends was down, and that had Zoro having trouble keeping up and worrying about other things at the same time, so instead of barking an order to what he knew was Aila's questioning stare (he felt it burning his face as he fought rather than saw it), he formulated it in his head, hoping it was loud enough for her to hear.

_Help the others_, he repeatedly construed. _I'll give you an opening_.

He had no way to know if it had reached Aila, but after repeating it a few times like a mantra, he threw himself into action and hoped for the better. He used an unguarded opening his opponent gave him and launched at him full force with his swords crossed in front of him, which the guardian predictably blocked. The moment he was pressing back, Zoro swung his arms open with his full strength and threw him flying backwards and breaking through the door opposite to the one Zoro was guarding, into God knows what kind of unnecessary and unnecessarily big room that may be.

He was fast to march forward and throw another blow the moment the guardian tried to make it back out, but by then Aila and her part of the team were already running behind him and towards the other end of the corridor in order to help the rest.

He'd hoped to keep that bastard inside the newly discovered room and so further away from the doors he was trying to protect, but he could only push his luck so far, and third attempt to throw him back in ended up with himself being hurled backwards, his back hitting those goddamn doors with a painful crack. Fuck. What was taking Luffy so long?

He opened his eyes in time to see the guardian launching at him with all the intent to cut him in half along with the doors so that he could help protect the sorry excuse of a king that country had, but Zoro grounded himself, blocked the attack with visible effort and managed to use the momentum to propel the other in an awkward diagonal that ended up with his huge body colliding against a wall and breaking part of it.

Zoro blinked and huffed for a second. That was the furthest away he'd had him. He was almost at the other end of the corridor, and he had sustained no small amount of damage by slamming across a wall for half of his induced flight. Good.

He was ready to charge again, taking the guardian's momentary confusion and lack of orientation after having hit his head pretty badly as an opportunity, when the shaking happened and he almost fell to the ground. He had honestly feared the palace would go down on them. What the fuck had that been? But then the guardian was taking his lost opportunity and using the same technique on Zoro.

That's how he found himself chasing after his enemy when he realized he'd make it to the doors before him. Fuck. He felt a sudden urge of desperation spur him on; there was too many lives at stake for something like this to go wrong because Zoro hadn't done his job properly.

For how much he had silently chastised his body for getting all excited and happy to fight when he should be worrying about actual pressing matters other than his own entertainment, he had to thank the state it leaped into every time he faced a challenge. His grin might not be matching his concern, but it was a testament to how much his body had taken the reins and let itself free. It had been building up to this moment, the moment where his brain finally gave in and absolutely let go of control. His savage yet calculated fighting style turned into simply savage, losing Zoro's characteristic stony and detached aura, the one that suggested nothing escaped his dominion. If only people knew how much thorough training he'd put himself through in order to give his brain a solid and rigid upper hand over the beast of a body he had built. It sometimes threatened to dominate his will, but he'd never let it slip, not even a bit; he relied on his instincts and they were the ones that kept him alive, but he'd only let them kick in under the pretext of a cold mind, which he owned 99% of the times he fought.

Sometimes he had to give in, though. Indulge himself a bit. See his body go all out without the restraints of his brain casing his movements to be absolutely precise; rely on sheer force and will power. They didn't have any more time to lose, and he couldn't afford his guardian to mess things up further by crossing those doors. Sanji would be pissed off as fuck, that if things didn't get complicated enough for him to end up dead first; he had a feeling Sanjii would be the first direct victim if things strayed out of path. So he let go.

And he found himself with his swords piercing through his opponent's chest and into the floor right after he had forced him to turn around. He could count with his fingers the amount of times he had attacked from the back, and they had all had something to do with Sanji (an irrelevant addition to the thought at the moment, but it still crossed his mind in a flash as he regained control of his own body), and he couldn't help but feel relieved that this hadn't added to the list. Even when going wild and rogue, it seemed his training and honour as a swordsman prevailed at the back of his mind, or at least in the natural way his muscles had learned to move, because he was sure there was no other reason behind turning the bastard around before dealing the final blow than sticking to his own fighting morals. The thought hit him that he hadn't stuck to them when he had pierced through Aila or the woman who had once tried to killed Sanji. He hadn't lent control to his body; he had been perfectly in charge of his cognitive abilities, both times, and he had willingly decided to go against something he had inked in his brain for life if it meant saving Sanji's. Of course he would, Sanji was a nakama and, at the end of the day, he would sell everything he believed in if it appeared to be the only way he could protect his people, but… damn, the thought was unsettling. The fact that even his instinctual and raw actions had respected his principles put his fault at sticking to them under a blinding spot light, out of nowhere in particular. It happened sometimes. When he came back to his senses, there'd be certain moments of clarity when given thoughts would hit him like thunder for no particular reason. He felt his stomach twist uncomfortably as he stared unseeingly at the defeated man below him.

Where was Sanji? Robin was yet to tell them if they had made it or not. Not receiving news was worrying. What had gone wrong?

About the same time he heard Aila yell with what sounded a lot like a celebratory tone, the doors he'd been protecting exploded and a heavy body made its bloody way out of the room and into the opposite one.

Zoro blinked at the now empty path of destruction, gathering his bearings and schooling his expression. He stood up and retrieved his swords, looking thoroughly bored and unbothered for someone who'd been regaining control over his clouded brain after sending it on vacation, going through unsettling thoughts in the process. Aila and the rest of the team were running towards him, but they stopped in their tracks as Luffy appeared from behind the half destroyed frame dragging a middle-aged man dressed in fancy clothes who Zoro was fairly sure had pissed himself out of fear.

"_That_'s the king?" he asked, deeply unimpressed and rather disappointed. He looked pretty pathetic. He'd been picturing someone bigger or at least a bit more intimidating. He recalled Sanji saying he knew how to hold his ground decently enough, but judging by the broken nose and the mess he looked like, Luffy had already beaten any attempts to fight back out of him, rendering him harmless.

"You're all going to regret this," the man had the nerve to whimper as Luffy hauled him towards the middle of the corridor, where he left him laying down and sobbing.

"Not much of a challenge, no," Luffy agreed with Zoro, pouting in distaste. He'd probably been expecting some kind of spectacular battle against the king himself. Not that they would have had time for one, so Zoro was rather grateful it hadn't come to that.

Speaking of wich.

"The signal," he muttered, his expression still uninterested, although a certain tinge of urgency was evident in his voice. At the very least, he was impatient for this to end. "We have to fire the signal."

Aila was already loading the gun and looking for a window which would grant visibility once the column of smoke was fired.

Zoro examined the king with a slight frown and let his gaze travel towards the group of arena fighters who'd been his team for a short time. They all looked like they wanted to kill him, but they still hadn't moved. They had all the right in the world to want to, Zoro thought. But Luffy was standing by the king's side with his arms crossed as he stared at Aila sauntering around, and his presence seemed enough to keep them at bay. Probably out of respect. Zoro could recognize the glint in their eyes. Luffy had earned the right to end the king himself, and they'd leave him to it.

In hindsight, Luffy hadn't done much harm. The king was still pretty much conscious and complaining in annoying whimpers. The same didn't apply to the guardian he'd taken care of, so it's not like he hadn't been capable of hurting that bastard for real. Zoro raised an eyebrow, but waited in silence, opting to leave Luffy to his own devices instead of questioning him.

He heard the shot and stared up at the ceiling, as if he could see the signal through the fancy paintings decorating it. Man, he hated palaces and their whole baroque fixation. It was ugly as fuck, and even more pretentious.

Aila came back and leveled the king with a glare hard enough to kill someone if looks had that power.

"What do we do now?"

She sounded harsh and demanding. She wanted to do harm to the man pathetically laying on the floor, for he had hurt them all _a lot_. She didn't like the fact that the man's destiny was apparently Luffy's call, but she also seemed to respect it.

Zoro discretely glanced at Luffy, who shrugged.

"Whatever you want to do. It's not my business. You take him, he's your king. Do whatever you think he deserves. We need to go find my crew before Sanji gets his ass kicked by someone while trying to protect two hundred people at the same time. Robin sounded pressing."

Oh. So he hadn't been the only one worrying his mind sick because of Sanji's tendency to put himself in the line for others. Well, Zoro took solace in what he could.

He found his captain looking back at him and he gave him a curt nod, letting him know he was game for whatever order he went for. Whatever but staying still and waiting for something to happen. He felt slightly more relieved now that he knew the four most dangerous threats in the palace had been taken out, but there had been something about Robin's tone that still bugged him.

Whatever, they were done here.

Aila was hesitantly looking at the king, seemingly torn between chewing his head off or keeping herself in check. The others awaited her decision; she seemed like the next biggest authority in that corridor, so he guessed it was their way of showing her some respect. She had been one of the people initiating this rebellion along with Sanji, after all.

"Chain him. Justice will judge him," she ended up forcing out. She didn't seem to like her own words at all. If Zoro had only paid attention to the tone he may have thought she was ordering them to feed him to alligators, but she knew better than to act out of grudge. She _had_ to know better. She read minds. She had seen a lot and she was better capable of balancing possible outcomes than your average person, so she might have thought this was for the better.

One doesn't build a country anew out of the same kind of grudge and pointless violent acts that once corrupted it; she seemed to be convincing herself of it.

Zoro didn't necessarily like her after how much she'd hurt Sanji, even if he'd already come to terms with the fact that it had been rather justified. But he _did_ feel a certain sense of pride. She wasn't that bad. A pretty cool woman, he'd say, if they didn't have some history weighing down on his judgement.

Nah, who was he trying to fool, Aila was dope.

* * *

Nami stared with bewildered horror what used to be the splendorous east wing of the palace, under where Sanji's team was supposed to have been evacuating.

Half of the roof was gone, and so was the façade, leaving barely-holding half-structures of multiple floors in the open, with beams sticking out in all places. It looked like only half of the wing had managed to stay upright, but the eastern parts of it were mere piles of debris covering up to the two first floors, making it look like half the building had undergone an earthquake.

"What the hell?" she heard Usopp mutter in a tone that suggested he felt just like Nami.

They were meant to sneak in and help, but there was no way they were making it to the underground floors where the cells were now; Nami was positive all accesses had been blocked, that if there were any remaining cells standing under that disaster. The fact that they were yet to see Sanji's team's victory signal didn't help soothe their frantic minds.

"Do you think they have made it out?" she whispered, heart beating against her ribcage. She was at honest loss of what to do. For all the help they had wanted to offer, it sure as hell was useless now.

"Probably. Maybe. I don't know, they may be trapped inside," Usopp babbled, assessing the situation while trying to calm down. "It looks like it was only half of the wing crumbling, so it's not like the _whole_ building has fallen on them. And I'm not sure the underground floors have been as affected, there has to be a limit to how much the structure can crumble."

"Let's think straight," Brook intervened, sounding the calmest out of the three. Their respective teams were wandering around the disaster zone with wide eyes, dutifully trying to look for openings while making an effort not to freak out about their comrades' luck. "They were supposed to make it out through a set of secret corridors which run around the whole palace. If I heard Sanji's explanations right, the exit point is down to the south wing; if they had already been on their way out, the collapse shouldn't have reached them, so they _should_ be fine. Not to mention I quite agree with Usopp; I don't know much about structures, but it seems unlikely to me that the destruction has reached the lower floors full-force. It must have been slightly subdued by the time it came to that, probably."

Well, that sounded reassuring, Nami thought. It certainly helped her in the avoid-hyperventilation department. Brook was right, they needed to think straight.

"Okay, so safest bet is they'll make it through the southern exit. We should assist them there. There's still no signal that Luffy's team has managed to take their guardians out of the picture and there's a high possibility of a fifth one going after the prisoners, so they'll probably need assistance once they are out in the open."

That sounded reasonable as well, Usopp agreed. Although they had the feeling the whole collapsing issue had something to do with said fifth guardian. And if their instincts were right, it probably had _a lot _to do with Sanji, since he'd surely had been the one to stay behind. But they trusted Sanji to know what he was doing, and they most definitely trusted him not to be there when everything fell down. He was fast; even _if_ he had been down there to start with, he'd have escaped in time.

"Let's go to the southern wing," Usopp forcefully indicated, getting everyone's attention. He didn't want to think of what may lay under those mountains of detritus, he knew for a fact that something way more urgent waited for them right where he was directing their teams. No one seemed to have objections.

They were half-way there, bordering the palace on their way, when a bright white smoke column made its way up the sky coming from somewhere near the west wing.

They blinked up at it and it took them a few seconds to process its meaning.

Nami found herself jumping with a victorious squeak at the same time Usopp threw a punch in the air. They turned towards each other and shared a quick relieved hug, Brook observing them with what would have been a smile if he could've formed one. The fighters around them whooped and yelled at the sky, taking a few seconds to celebrate, because they honestly deserved the breather.

"Okay, biggest threat is eradicated, but there's no time to waste, there'll be a lot of injured people out there, and they'll need as much help as they can get," Nami instructed as fast as she composed herself.

This was not over yet.

* * *

Robin made sure the last of the prisoners was out the door and into the gardens when she raised her head and saw a white signal lighten up the sky. Thank God. They wouldn't be in danger now, they wouldn't need to send the escapees too far away since there was no one left to pose a threat.

"Chopper, have you seen that?" she asked, hurrying towards where Chopper was starting to sit people down and examine the most wounded ones.

"Yes, we can set camp here," Chopper nodded, not taking his eyes off a wound that suggested an arm might need to be chopped before the infection reached passed the poor man's shoulder. The man looked nothing but grateful and relieved, though. He was silently crying, not out of pain, but out of disbelieving bliss. They were finally free. Robin didn't have time to appreciate such a crucial moment in those people's lives. Nor did Chopper, who was assessing how to go about that particular injury and probably considering hundreds of others in his head already. "Some of them are too injured to keep moving them. I'll send people in the lookout for doctors, then we'll be able to sort out how to get them to the hospital or how to organize and excuse for it here, if needed."

He sounded stressed and under pressure. For all the blissful cries around them, for all the happy tears and meaningful hugs and deep thank yous flying around and at them, Chopper was still far from being able to celebrate. His job had just started.

Robin nodded. "I'll lend a hand. Has someone fired the-?"

She heard the shot and looked up at the sky, where a green signal made its way up to the clouds after one of her team members' had had the mind to send it. The rest were too busy reuniting with family members and loved ones. It had been their people who they had just rescued, after all, and she saw parents scoop their underfed children in their arms, couples kissing and crying against each other's mouths in between streaks of laughter despite the many wounds, and sons and daughters cradling old parents who'd seen their hair turn gray in their cell for years, not knowing if their children were still alive out there or not. Some prisoners were looking around in a frenzy, consoling each other since they couldn't find their loved ones among the people who had rescued them.

"They're on their way," Robin informed with a kind smile when she saw an elderly woman asking for his son at one of the arena fighters holding a teenager against him with tears in his rugged up face. "They're either helping around Terevera or securing the palace, don't worry. They'll all come eventually."

She saw a grateful smile cross the woman's features as she regarded her with adoration.

"I don't know why you'd risk your lives like that, but please accept my gratitude. I don't think we'll ever be able to pay you back enough," she let out in a breath, her voice quivering in an effort to restrain happy tears back. She looked tired, but still content.

"Hey, miss Annie, can you see the stars?" the teenager freed himself from his father's arms for a second and crawled towards her, holding her hands in his. Robin recalled them sharing a cell. She wondered how many years they'd been stuck together in that dark slot. She didn't have a doubt she had done her best to take care of the brat, who must've been a kid by the time he had been taken away from his father. He regarded her with devotion, Robin noticed. As if she was his actual grandmother.

The woman looked at him in confusion for a second, but then he smiled at her and pointed at the sky, his grin growing wider. His father was watching him with overflowing pride, looking like he was unable to believe he had him this close. He'd probably been fighting for so long he had missed his son growing up.

Miss Annie followed his directions and her eyes widened at the view. The sky had cleared and the stars were visible, and they were beautiful. The woman teared up and the brat laughed in bliss, choking a sob in the process.

"It was your dream, miss Annie, wasn't it? To see the stars again! There they are, aren't they beautiful?" he kept throttling out, his face damp with tears just like hers was becoming. "And now your son will come and you'll see them with him! How great is that, miss Annie?"

It was great indeed, Robin thought. It would have been moving enough for her to feel emotional about it if she didn't have a lot of work to do and a long night and morning ahead of her.

"Thank you so much, miss."

Robin turned to stare at the arena fighter kneeling beside his son and the older woman. He had been part of her team, but they hadn't exchanged many words up until now. He was smiling, truthfully so, and Robin sent him a reassuring smile of her own, waving his thanks away.

"It's fine. We need to organize everything and tend to the injured, do you think you can lend a hand?"

He was already standing.

* * *

Sanji didn't know what he was doing.

First instinct when everything had fallen down on him had been to kick his way back down, for the lack of a smoother or cleverer plan to go with.

He'd destroyed the barriers he had initially built, falling along with debris and knowing full well that the upper floors and outer wall and roof, _and whatnot_, was falling right behind him.

Then again, he didn't know shit about architecture and he was most likely going to dramatically fail at whatever he was trying to pull, but he kicked his way down with vice until he stumbled on what he was pretty sure was one of the underground floors where cells were situated. He didn't know which floor in particular it was, but he did check that the corridor where the prisoners had once been was still intact, if violently shaking.

He didn't have that much time to think, so he kicked himself sideways in time to avoid a tsunami of rocks falling on him, running towards the end of the corridor with his hopes set on the ceiling resisting the impact. If he wasn't wrong, the cells were built under the east wing, but their ends projected away from the end of the outer structure of the palace, which made its underground way wider than the level and upper floors. If he wasn't wrong, reaching the end of those corridors was his best bet to save his ass, at least for the time being, since less blocks of the edifice would be falling on that area, which should put the underground ceilings and floors under less strain, or something like that. Hopefully. Fuck, he _really_ didn't have a clue what he was doing, he simply hoped it worked.

It did, for a while. He found himself ducking in a cell, covering his head and waiting for the terrible shaking to pass, praying that the annex underground structure that were the cells would still hold by the end of the collapse. By the time the trembling stopped, pieces of ceiling had fallen, but that had mostly happened by the end of the corridor that was near the access staircase, which was directly under the east wing and thus had ended up disappearing and being substituted by a wall of rocks and beams.

He blinked at it, taking a few tentative steps and cringing whenever a brick would fall from the barely holding-on ceiling above him or a cascade of dust would fall with a slight shake. He should have probably aimed for one of the lower corridors. He had a feeling that they would have survived the impact better, but it's not like he'd had time to kick further down; the whole building had been falling on him, excuse everyone who may complain about his decision-making. Flying upwards instead of down hadn't even crossed his mind, by the way; his instincts had screamed against propelling himself face first towards tons of falling floors and the wing's roof in all its splendor, and he was kind of _not_ regretting that choice. He could have taken better decisions, _sure_, but he could've done much worse. He considered himself lucky enough not to have decided to pick the upper corridor, wherever it led, because he had a feeling that one had collapsed as well. He was rather surprised his ceiling had managed to stay in one piece for the most part. Not that it would last, it was letting out awful creaking sounds.

Sanji tried to think straight and calm himself down. Whatever the case, the guardian was most likely out for count.

And Sanji was very much trapped.

There was no other way out but the stairs, and he was pretty sure there were meters of threatening huge-ass pieces of wreckage over his head, enough for him to doubt his own ability to come out alive if he decided to try his luck and kick a path out of there and into the surface. The moment he touched the structure above his head it would fall on him, and there was only so much kicking he could do before it buried him alive.

Well, _fuck_.

It could've been worse, he repeated to himself. _I mean, I could be dead_, he reasoned. _That_ would've been inconvenient.

Sanji sighed and looked around. There were several guards right where they'd left them, while the other half had disappeared under the rocks blocking his only way out. A thought crossed his mind in a flash. What floor was he in? He recognized two of the guards laying down, basically because he had been considering mistreating their bodies at some point during the evacuation, and he had been considering it _hard_.

He made his way towards the cell they stood in front of, carefully so as not to push his luck and wary every time he heard something tremble above him, but he made it there and took glimpse inside. He was still there. He recalled the girl sharing a cell with him telling him his name was Kevin.

They had left him behind, it's not like they could afford carrying a dead body with them when two hundred people were being evacuated.

Sanji stared at him for a while before and ended up walking towards him and kneeling by his side. The air around him was stifling. He swore the fog his eyes seemed to be processing was due to the huge amounts of dust filling the place. In no time he'd have his lungs full of it. He couldn't breathe properly and he coughed more often than not. He wondered how long oxygen would last him. It seemed to have been substituted by that oppressing construction powder.

"Hey buddy," he greeted.

What was he doing?

"I'll get you out of here," he announced as he forced the arm that wasn't contorted in a weird angle over his own shoulder, lifting his dead weight up. "Kevin, right? It won't do if your family can't at least see your face, they'll be upset."

He was talking too much and no one was listening, he knew so, but it helped him calm his nerves down. Fuck, he was panicking a bit, but he kept it down by talking.

"I'll take you outside, you're not going to end up buried here, don't worry," he babbled, dragging him out of the cell and examining the ceiling above himself with critical eyes, trying to decipher which spot would be less lethal if he were to kick it in.

By the time someone managed to get him out of here, he'd be asphyxiated, and Sanji didn't fancy the idea. That if the ceiling didn't fall on him before that; he was pretty sure it was a blink away from doing so with the way it threateningly grumbled. He felt dread overflowing in his stomach but he ignored it, keeping up with his hopeless analysis and dragging Kevin with him, barely managing to keep him upright. Fuck, he hurt everywhere.

"You know, the sky was pretty shitty tonight, it was all clouded and dark, but who knows, you might be lucky and get to see the stars or something," he animatedly commented, his gaze fixing on a spot which was letting too much dust fall through for it to be stable anymore. It would give in soon enough. It hit him that it was probably the point he would meet with less resistance if he had to kick his way up. Everything would fall on him instantly, but that's the biggest opening he was going to get. It wouldn't do to try his luck and end up kicking something so solid he couldn't make it past it. However this went down, he had to be fast about it, and he couldn't be stopped in his tracks.

Shit, the prospect was daunting.

For the umpteenth time that night, he came to the conclusion that he didn't know what the fuck he was doing.

"I'm probably going to mess this up, but it's worth a try, right Kevin?" he shakily sighed. Not that Kevin ever answered to reassure him.

Sanji looked at the threatening spot, knowing he had more chances of his plan not working out than everything going smoothly, but it's not like he had much of a choice and he had learned to school himself firmly enough not to let fear take over him, so his decision was taken.

"Okay, buddy, hold on tight. I promise I'm taking you out to the surface. You're not this place's prisoner anymore."

He didn't sound as convinced as he would've liked, but there was no one there to call him out on his confidence bluff, so he might as well pretend, if only to soothe himself. Moreover, he now had a promise to fulfill. He could hardly let himself fail.

He took a deep breath, secured Kevin against his body and kicked right where he knew the landslide would be worse.

The whole ceiling collapsed over him.

* * *

"Robin?"

Robin turned towards Zoro, who was now hurrying across their improvised camp, where everyone was busy helping out in one way or another. He saw Nami running about carrying medical supplies. She looked fine, just a few scratches. _Yes_, he did check, he cared about his nakama's safety, including the witch's. The first doctors were starting to arrive. He couldn't spot the others, but he figured they'd be around. There was a lot of people, damn, it must have been a pain in the ass to evacuate everyone.

"Took you long enough," Robin commented, no malice in her words, but Zoro still frowned at her in annoyance. He noticed her checking him out for major injuries, but he hadn't withheld great damage this time, so her attention went back to the hundreds of hands she was sprouting around under Chopper's orders.

"Couldn't find them," Zoro protested. It was hardly their fault, not that Robin was actually shoving it at them. "How did it go?"

"Good enough. One prisoner died, but he was dead before we broke in, so I guess this counts as success. Everyone is out and safe."

"Great to hear," he muttered, looking around and unconsciously looking for a flash of blonde.

Luffy was excitedly jumping around and telling Nami about their adventure while Nami did her best to ignore him and keep him out of the doctors' way while helping out. Zoro's opinion of the redhead was that she was hysterical 90% of the time and that she didn't have a bit of patience, but, at the same time, he had to admit she _did _have _a lot_ of patience sometimes.

Aila and some of her men were keeping the king locked up, both for his future judgement and for his own safety. If he was to be seen by the people currently camping in the palace's gardens, he wouldn't be able to get out of it alive, but he had asked for it, really. He was lucky Aila had a brain and some compassion left in her. He didn't deserve it. The rest of his team was currently reuniting with his family in explosions of happy cries that pulled a small smile out of Zoro. He was tough, but he could allow himself a breather every now and then, and the sight in front of him was a happy one despite the many injuries most of them were sporting.

"Well, blondie's plan was a success, who would have thought that," he distractedly commented, his gaze still sweeping the people around him. He couldn't see Sanji, but then again, he couldn't see Usopp or Franky either. Brook was easily spotted crouched by a group of kids and distracting them while their parents did their best to help around. He frowned a bit. "What happened? Last time you contacted us, you sounded constipated, but you have managed pretty well."

Robin stopped her ministrations and actually straightened before looking at him in the eyes. That was about the time an alarm rang in his head, and his pose became wary.

"About that," she started, wording what she was saying carefully. "One of Terevera's guardians read through our plan and came after us. Sanji restrained him and everyone managed to get out in one piece."

Zoro's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before turning into an accusing glare.

"Care to tell me why you didn't warn us? We could've helped," he snapped, feeling irritated already. He could already picture Sanji going all hero and hurting himself, the bastard. But then a flash of badly hidden worry hit him, for another reason. "Wait, a guardian coming from Terevera?"

He looked around again and confirmed what he had already seen. Brook was there, which meant Usopp must have been alright too since they'd been in the same team, which meant they had taken down their guardian, didn't it? Nami was there as well, which led him to the same conclusion. But what about Franky? He wasn't there. It had to have been his guardian that escaped, but how-

"Where's Franky?" he demanded, pressingly.

Robin looked at him in confusion but seemed to understand where he was coming from after a while, because she shook her head and raised both hands in a placating gesture. "He's fine, it wasn't his guardian that escaped if that's what you're thinking. He was the last one to flash a yellow signal so his guardian is down and he's more than likely fine, but still on the streets. It was Usopp's and Brook's guardian."

Zoro looked at her without understanding. Usopp and Brook were there, mostly unscratched. What had they been doing to let a guardian escape them?

"He never appeared," Robin explained, seemingly sensing his unasked question. "He probably saw through us before he ran into them. They thought he might be coming towards us, so they warned us and came to offer help, but we were already out by the time they arrived."

"And _why the fuck_ didn't you tell us?" he demanded again, admittedly angry. That's one of the things they had agreed on keeping each other informed of. They all knew what Sanji was capable of doing if push came to shove, and they had more or less agreed on having someone help him out in case he did something reckless such as putting himself in the line on his own.

"Because you still hadn't done your job and Sanji was pretty insistent on not letting you know before you took those four out," Robin answered in a flat tone. She was pretty unimpressed with his outburst, he could tell. "It was rather hard to upturn his logic."

And, again, Robin wasn't blaming them, because it was hardly their fault, but Zoro now understood her slightly bad mood over how long it had taken for them to do what they were supposed to. Hadn't the four guardians been a bigger threat than one alone, they could've afforded calling for backup, but Sanji had been right; one of them coming down would have left an open opportunity for the other four to go rogue on them and add to the problem downstairs, too close to the prisoners for comfort. If they had taken them out in time, Sanji would have let Robin call for backup.

Zoro clenched his jaw, forcing himself not to feel guilty. It wasn't what Robin had aimed for and he doubted anybody would rub it in their faces that their team had been slow enough for the plan to crumble, but it was kind of how it was.

Speaking of which.

A sudden sense of dread invaded his gut. "Hold on, where's the cook?"

Robin straightened a bit more at that question. Here's what she had been so cautious about. Oh, shit. He had been assuming, by the way the conversation had gone, that Sanji had managed to beat the crap out of the unannounced guardian without further consequences, but only now did it sink in that Sanji _wasn't _around. He hadn't seen him and he had been aware of it, sure, but it hadn't hit him until now that there might be something to fear about his absence.

"Where is he?" he pressed, his tone urgent despite trying to hide his sudden wave of worry under a mask of indifference. He had sounded too aggressive for it to be credible, though.

"We left him fighting over the east wing. It collapsed and Sanji has still not appeared, so we can only assume he's been trapped there. Usopp is currently helping a small team trying to find him. I was going to suggest you help them since you possess more strength than tact and there's little you can do around here."

Zoro didn't know if he should feel profusely offended by her words or thankful that she had made up a decent excuse for him to go on the blonde's search without his pride suffering a blow, but he settled for silently glaring at her.

She looked rather calm and he forced himself to be. She trusted Sanji to be alive, and he did too, despite the repeated twists his stomach was going through.

He nodded once and called Luffy over.

"Come help, will you? Shit cook's dense enough to have buried himself alive instead of fucking asking for help."

Damn, he was mad. Slightly scared at what they might find underneath the fallen wing, but mostly angry at Sanji's attitude. He was sure the blonde had been the one responsible for Robin not giving them a fair warning and the chance to help where it had clearly been needed. Zoro could see the logic behind Sanji's decision, shit, it was _the_ logical one, but it was that kind of self-sacrificing attitude that always got him almost killed, if he wasn't already dead.

No, he was alive, he told himself. He was too stubborn to die. He found himself actually believing it, and his anxiousness eased a bit.

Only to skyrocket once he reached the disaster zone and saw most of the wing reduced to a pile of detritus.

What _the ever loving fuck_ had Sanji done?

He spotted Usopp frantically trying to lift rocks out of the way along with several fighters the size of a wardrobe, but there was only so much shit they could liberate for it to have an effect on the huge mountain part of the palace had turned into. Ah, fuck.

"Oi, Sanji! Can you hear me?!" Luffy yelled by his side, cupping his mouth with his hands and almost rendering Zoro deaf in the process.

"Keep it down," he mindlessly groaned, deeply irritated.

But Luffy was already bouncing from rock to beam to protruding rock, yelling and lifting pieces of debris and throwing them over his head, forcing a few people to dodge and curse at him.

"Any traces of him?" he asked when he was within Usopp's earshot.

He wasn't exactly surprised when Usopp's frantic movements increased as he turned to face him, immediately tearing up and forcing himself not to, but it still annoyed Zoro to no end. Usopp was already assuming the worst and barely keeping himself from crying and Zoro wasn't about to tolerate such an attitude while he worked. It put him in a bad mood.

"Zoro!" Usopp bawled. "I'm so sorry! We didn't get here fast enough! We can't find him!"

Why was he sounding like Zoro might have something _personal_ against him for not being able to find Sanji? As if Zoro was to be given special apologies for his loss. It pissed him off.

"He'll be fine, Usopp, stop being _dramatic_," he huffed in irritation. He had managed to reign his escalating worry and keep it at bay so that it didn't show or interfere with his actions. They had to find the blonde and he needed to do so with a cool head. He was rather surprised at his own ability to sport a blank face through this. God knows his stomach wasn't agreeing with anything his trust towards the blonde forced him to believe. "As if that bastard would let himself die in such pathetic circumstances. I bet he has his own death orchestrated; he won't let it happen unless it's spectacular and grants him the reputation of a hero."

Usopp chuckled a bit at that, sniffing quite inelegantly and trying to compose himself. "Yeah, he'd do that."

"Come on, get to work," Zoro ordered as he lifted a huge piece of what he assumed had once been a marble floor and threw it aside. The mess under his feet grumbled a bit, but it didn't give in under him.

"Oh, yeah, be careful," Usopp warned, lifting a rock with a bit of effort. "There's parts that still crumble down, so look where you step. We almost lost a men over there a while ago. The whole mountain he was stepping on totally gave in and he was almost buried under it."

Zoro raised his head at that. Something in Usopp's words had caught his attention. "Mm? Where?"

Usopp pointed left and Zoro was met with a faraway cavity in between a mountain of wreckage. It probably went one or two floors underneath their level, but that's where it had stopped, probably because it had ended up finding resistance on its way down. Zoro squinted at it and tightened his lips in a line.

"Oi, tell everyone to clear that crater," he muttered.

Usopp looked at him with questioning eyes.

"Why?"

"Wanna bet he's there?"

"What the hell, Zoro, it just fell down like an avalanche, there's no chance for anything or anyone under _that_ surviving it!"

"He's there," he stubbornly claimed, making his way towards the designed spot.

Usopp raised both hands in the air in distress but he still informed the others. Luffy was there before Zoro could reach and he was already throwing pieces of building in every direction, yelling at Sanji to respond. He didn't look particularly concerned, simply _really_ into the task of finding their chef. Usopp _was_ concerned. His point stayed firm, and he was suddenly panicking at the prospect of finding Sanji crushed under tons of rocks. But if Zoro said he was there, he probably was. Hell, Zoro was most likely right, he had a thing for spotting Sanji wherever he was, if only to fight him. He could only hope they'd find him in one piece.

* * *

Sanji had been screaming his throat hoarse for a while now. He was starting to be afraid he would lose his voice before someone managed to hear him.

Luffy's booming calls had reached his ears at some point, faint and almost not there, but he had recognized them and started screaming back. It was a waste of breath, really, there were too many layers of junk over him for his voice to be heard. He didn't even know how deeply buried he was, maybe still a few floors below ground level, that if he was lucky and hadn't actually sunk further down that he had originally been.

Once everything had started falling around him, Sanji had kicked his way up, with Kevin wrapped around him as he dodged and destroyed the masses of rocks falling on him. The distance had been too great for him to cover, as he should have known to expect. It was rather unavoidable that a huge panel about two to three meters wide would fall flat on him and stop his ascend. He'd had the mind to twist his body so as to plant his feet against it and keep it from crushing him face first, but it had pushed him backwards until his back had painfully hit the newly created level of rocks under him. He had hugged Kevin's body close to him to avoid it being crushed and used every last bit of strength to keep his soles planted on the panel and use it as a roof for everything else falling around them.

Which had ended up with him on his back against rocks, something uncomfortably stabbing his side (not that he could move to retrieve it) and his legs flexed and holding the panel's weight; with however many layers of debris were above them. The space created barely fit two people and his legs were trembling violently with the effort, but he made-do with what he had. If his legs failed him, he was dead. Talk about inconveniences.

It was boiling hot under there, and the air was so still it was difficult to breathe. There must have been a fortunate set of cracks above his head for reduced amounts of oxygen to slip in, else he would have already died of asphyxiation. He had tried his luck budging his legs alternatively, tentatively looking for any weak point above him he could use for an escape, but it was useless. The only way that panel was going to move was down and on him, so he was stuck.

He'd been having a bad day. He must've woken up jinxed, he thought.

Despite the heat and the asphyxiating general feeling, the coldness of Kevin's body didn't come as a relief but as a reminder that death could very well be walking by at the moment.

"Damn, Kevin, I'm sorry I couldn't take you out. I had _one_ job, I know. What a shitty way to end the day," he muttered into nothingness. There wasn't any kind of light filtering by, so he could see nothing, which merely added to the claustrophobic atmosphere.

Sanji sighed, angry at himself. His legs were holding on out of survival instincts, nothing else. He felt strength disappear and everything hurting like a bitch, but he held on.

When he heard Luffy's voice he almost yelped in overwhelming relief, but his efforts to make himself noticed had accounted to nothing.

What where the chances of him being found under several layers of waste among the space that a whole palace wing had once covered? Scarce to none, really. At least not before his legs gave in or oxygen decided to stop gracing him in that reduced hole he had encaged himself in.

He kept shouting, though.

At some point he got tired and let himself rest for a few minutes, exhausted and knowing he wasn't losing any chances with his inactivity since he hadn't had any to start with. Then a blow of air hit him in the face and Sanji's eyes snapped open. He was so startled that his legs budged a tad and the panel unbalanced enough for it to almost fall flat on him, but he pushed up with a pained groan and kept the goddamn thing in place. Enough of this bullshit.

There was no light, but there was quite a bigger amount of air filtering in right now, which could only mean a few layers had been taken off the ones covering him, leaving wider cracks for oxygen to sneak in.

He could hear Luffy closer as well.

"_Luffy!_" Damn, his voice was cracking; he knew he had been screaming too much. Let it last until they had spotted him, at least. "Luffy, I'm down here!"

And he must have heard him, because Luffy's yells suddenly turned into a hopeful question.

"Sanji?! Sanji is that you? Can you hear me?"

Luffy's yells were fainter now. He was getting away. What a fucking idiot.

"Not that way, you shitstain, _get your ass back here!_"

The message got through, apparently, because his voice reached him as closer again as he kept asking for him and Sanji kept answering at the top of his lungs, losing his voice by the second but hoping it would be enough for them to fix his position and start working already.

* * *

The moment Zoro heard Sanji's voice somewhere in between Luffy's annoying yells, he couldn't avoid sighing in relief. _Thanks fuck. _Something twisted savagely in his stomach, again, but this time it was hopeful and a whole deal more bearable than the dread he had been trying to keep at bay under a mask of indifference.

Luffy was obviously not hearing the blonde, not with how much he yelled, but Zoro paid attention and wandered around, careful of where he stepped on, until he pinpointed the approximate area the answers might be coming from.

"Luffy, shut the fuck up, he's here," he growled, waving him over.

Everybody closed distances with where he was, looking around as if they expected Sanji to magically appear out of nowhere.

Zoro was frowning at the ground. He had stopped hearing him. Luffy was back to yelling, but this time he did give space for Sanji to answer, to no avail.

Zoro groaned and started lifting shit and getting it out of the way in a whim, which the rest copied swiftly. At some point Sanji started yelling again, this time clearer.

From there on they narrowed it down until their joint efforts were all collected in one spot as they liberated it from rocks and beams. There was a moment when Sanji's voice was loud enough for Zoro to distinguish colorful insults and orders to hurry the fuck up, although he noticed his voice was getting hoarser by the second.

They were suddenly met with a panel which must've been a floor, or a ceiling, or whatever, embedded between hundreds of other rocks and presenting a physical wall which they had no way to lift unless they cleared all of his sides and found its corners.

Luffy was going to simply punch through it when Zoro's heart leapt in his chest right after Sanji answered for the billionth time and something clicked in his head at the proximity of his voice; and he barely had the time to bodily throw himself at his captain and restrain him before he could send this all to shit.

"For fuck's sake, Luffy! He's right under that panel!" he angrily yelled at him, managing to keep him from doing anything stupid. "Do you want to punch his face in after all the hassle we went through?" he hissed, letting go of him and watching as Luffy stared dumbly at said panel. "If you'd just pay attention and wait before barging in you may avoid killing your crew in the process."

Oh, well. Zoro wasn't in a good mood, but that was hardly news.

"Sanji?" Luffy asked again, this time more tentatively.

Sanji might have sensed the danger he had been about to be put in, because his answer came with delay and sounding rather wary. It would have been amusing hadn't he been about to accidentally die in his captain's hands.

"I think I'm under you."

Zoro rolled his eyes for good measure, hiding his relief.

They retired the rocks around the panel. It was embedded as fuck; even without the weight on its edges, it was pretty much squeezed in between detritus, which made it a hard task to slip somebody's fingers in between it and its corners in order to lift it. He would have destroyed the wreckage around it to make it relinquish some ground, but it may end up falling on Sanji's head, so he restrained the urge.

They were considering a way to uncork Sanji's proverbial tomb when the panel wiggled and raised itself a few tentative centimeters. Sanji was pushing it up, it seemed. The fact that he wasn't outright kicking it out of his face could both mean that he didn't have any more strength than that or that the structure around him wasn't stable enough for him to go all out on it.

"Can you lift it more?" Zoro asked, crouching by one of the edges and trying to hook his fingers under it, which he still couldn't manage. "About two to three inches."

"Oh, hello, marimo," he heard Sanji say. Zoro rolled his eyes, again. "Always a bliss to hear your voice."

Zoro told himself that if Sanji had energy to be sarcastic and try to annoy the fuck out of him, he couldn't be all that close to death. It came as alleviating news.

Sanji did as he was told and the panel's surface raised a few more inches that Zoro had demanded. He heard the blonde groan in pain and he clenched his teeth in sympathy.

"Come on, get a hold of it and lift it up," Zoro urged the others, and so they did. Even Luffy was careful when lifting it. Good boy.

They found Sanji curled on his back, his legs still raised and helping them lift his cover with a man mirroring his pose on him with his back to Sanji's chest, almost as if the blonde had decided to spoon him; the man's legs laying limp in between Sanji's stretched ones.

Despite the weird sight, what caught Zoro's attention was the shaking of Sanji's legs, and he felt glad they had found him in time. How long had he been holding on? It's not like he could inspect him any longer because next thing he knew they were maneuvering the large piece of panel away from Sanji's location, careful not to shake anything.

"I told you he'd be fine," he reminded Usopp, searching his eye to make sure their snipper wasn't freaking out and about to let the panel flop out of stress.

Sanji kept talking, though. "You're out. And you're lucky; the stars have come out in the end."

Zoro frowned a bit. Who was he talking to? The man he was holding onto? He had to admit it was slightly unsettling to see Sanji allowing such proximity with a man without pulling faces and, on top of it, speaking rather softly to him, but not necessarily bad.

When he came back, Sanji was patting the man's shoulder over his. "You did it."

Yes, he was talking to him.

He seemed to realize he was being watched because he lifted his gaze and met Zoro's, and Zoro felt a new wave of relief as he came to terms with the fact that Sanji's visible eye looked very much alive and full of fire like it always was. It became a different shade of blue under the moonlight, one that had Zoro staring at him for longer than he should.

"Get him out first," Sanji offered, pushing the man off him with a rather careful demeanor without straining too much. His legs were now pressing against the adjacent rocks which threatened to fall around him or on him, and he was visibly making and effort to keep it that way.

Other men appeared beside Zoro and helped him, yanking the man out of Sanji's extended arms and up into the surface. A touch against his skin confirmed the sinking feeling that the man was already dead, which Sanji must've known. Zoro remembered Robin mentioning one of the prisoners hadn't made it out. Trust Sanji to retrieve his body for his family to mourn. He ignored the wild overwhelming clenching his heart went through and crouched by the edge of the rocks surrounding Sanji's space, ignoring Usopp's relieved wails as well in an attempt to think of a way to get Sanji out of there without half the pebble and rocks falling on him.

Luffy was faster because he got a hold of the one rock that seemed to be the biggest threat, the one Sanji was pushing away with all his might. He anchored himself securely enough against the ground and pulled at it towards himself, relieving Sanji its weight and giving him the opportunity to relocate his now dumb limbs in an attempt to get out of there. They couldn't see exactly what he was doing, but some of his movements looked suspiciously similar to him trying to pull something out of his side, which seemed to have been stabbed by something metallic. Not that Sanji complained or made a show out of it.

Zoro didn't really think twice before offering both his extended arms from his crouched position and Sanji carefully lifted himself until he got a hold of Zoro's elbows and Zoro was gripping at his forearms firmly enough to bruise but also steadily enough to yank him up. Sanji groaned, again, but otherwise didn't complain about the pain he was surely going through. Yes, he had definitely managed to stab himself on the side. Zoro maneuvered himself so that his arms got a strong hold around Sanji's torso and under his arms at the same time Sanji pressed his hands against Zoro's shoulders to help himself push his way up along with Zoro's pull. His shoulders were pressed against Sanji's chest, and the blonde's head found a spot against his neck that helped him ground them both, which ended up with Sanji's neck pressed fluch against Zoro's.

Sanji smelled of sweat and blood and dirt, and _damn_, his whole body was trembling against his in pure exertion, but Zoro could feel his pulse against his jaw and all anxiety dissipated. He may have been enclosing Sanji harder than was technically necessary for it not to resemble an embrace, but it was as short as getting Sanji out of there lasted, and no one would ever have the chance to wonder, because the moment he had him on his feet, Zoro made sure Sanji was stable but was fast to put some distance between them, holding onto his shirt with what looked like the intent to pick up a fight, but was really his way to ensure Sanji wasn't going to fall face first once he let go of him.

He honestly wanted to yell at him, to recriminate him his carelessness and disregard towards his own life, but he decided to keep it in, deeming it unnecessary and rather incriminating of his own concern. He took the chance to glare hard at him and check him out thoroughly, though, and he didn't like what he saw.

"You look like shit."

"Well, thanks. Glad to see you too."

Zoro tried to get a look at Sanji's eye, where he was sure every single one of the stitches had popped, but Sanji started swatting his hands away, annoyed. Luffy was by his side and starting to plague him with questions and Usopp was practically yelling how relieved he was right in his ear, so Sanji had trouble slapping away Zoro's hands every time he tried again, but he managed to keep him at bay and ended up yelling at everyone to leave him the fuck alone, which had Luffy patting him hard on the back, almost making him fall (he would've hadn't Zoro been grabbing his shirt and keeping him in place and in one piece through the assault) and leaving between congratulatory compliments, followed by Usopp, who was being glared at too much for him to stay any longer without pissing his pants.

They didn't go too far away, but Zoro had the feeling they had meant to give them space. _What the actual fuck._

He didn't mull on it, though; Sanji was distracted enough by the sheer shock of those two having obeyed and actually left him alone for him to block Zoro's snaky hand, which finally grabbed at Sanji's hair and lifted it up for him to see that half of the bandages had come off, the stitches had popped indeed, and a recent blooming bruise was covering that side of his face at alarming speed.

"You're a fucking disaster," he growled in badly hidden frustration.

"Any more compliments tonight?" Sanji snapped, slapping his hand away for the umpteenth time in the last few seconds, his hair falling back in place and thankfully covering his injuries, which were painful to see. "I'm starting to feel flattered."

"Can you walk?"

"I've been holding God knows how many tons of debris for the last eternity and what came before that; I think I can manage a stroll."

"How did you even end up down there?"

Luffy could only be gone for so long, of course, so the moment Zoro popped the last question, he was back by their side, ready to listen to his answer and feeling decidedly entertained. Sanji glared at both of them and spared a murderous look at Usopp, who was pretending he wasn't listening but totally was a few feet away from them.

"I wanted to bury that bastard under some rocks and ended up making the whole wing fall on us. It was a small miscalculation."

And, really, Zoro wanted to be mad because he was fed up with Sanji's carelessness when it came to his own life (not that he could talk), but he ended up snorting at the same time Luffy threw his head back laughing, thoroughly amused. Zoro stared at Sanji up and down, mocking grin imprinted in his face no matter how much he tried to fight it off and order himself to be more pissed off.

Sanji was ridiculous. And he was alive after all.

"Are you an idiot?"

"Shut the fuck up."

Sanji ended up sitting on a rock far away from the most dangerous zone, unable to keep himself up and steady for any longer if he didn't want his legs to leave him laying on the floor, so he allowed himself a moment of rest and lit himself a cigarette, surrounded by Luffy, Zoro, Usopp and some of the men who had helped look for him. A pair of them had brought Kevin back with the survivors, if only for his family to be able to find him when they looked for him.

"I heard this was your plan," one of the arena fighters said, addressing Sanji as he sat by his side. He looked worn out, but no one looked worse than Sanji at the moment.

Sanji had the nerve to shrug as he took a drag. "Nah, everybody's, really."

Zoro was about to retort when Luffy beat him to it.

"It was Sanji's. It was his idea. We wouldn't have known of your situation hadn't he investigated it. We simply tagged along."

Luffy was grinning with undoubted pride, but his tone was also hard; he was clearly leaving Sanji with no choice but to accept the merit, and Zoro was fine with it. It was his.

Sanji looked uncomfortable. "Whatever."

"Thank you all, then," the man smiled at them. Then he turned back to stare at Sanji. "And thank _you_ for reaching out. Not many people would have done this. It's not like any of us treated you especially well."

Sanji shook his head, trying to make himself small. It was one of the only times Sanji shrank, Zoro realized: when he tried to get the spotlight away from him, when he didn't want to be seen as a hero fuck knows why. Sanji had never been one to boast, but he could give himself some credit and nobody would die because of it, excuse him.

"It's not like you had a choice," he dismissed, presenting the other with a reassuring smile. Everything was forgiven, it said. It was only natural he'd reached out, it said. No need for anyone to thank me or consider me their hero, it screamed.

And, fuck, Zoro was _proud._

"We shall help Chopper, he's probably overworked," Sanji suggested as he got up, not without an effort.

Everyone agreed, although Zoro would have preferred it if Sanji had taken the time to properly rest. He didn't even know how long he'd been trapped and probably thinking he was going to die, with his body about to give up on him. That must've taken a toll.

A lot of people, especially kids and elders, ran to greet the blonde, jumping around him and showering him with eternal gratitude. They knew who he was. They knew what he had done. Sanji smiled, genuinely this time, and he let them do so, although Zoro knew better than to think he was accepting the compliments for what they were. He wasn't surprised when he saw him head straight towards the underfed people, some of them barely moving, and started giving instructions and tending to them: he knew what to do, he had gone through that and worse. And it got a lot of work out of Chopper's shoulders, who left Sanji in charge of that group and narrowed his own patients down. Zoro was surprised that Sanji didn't snap, though. He kept his cool, even though he was probably boiling in rage inside. He knew what other people's malnutrition did to the cook, but he kept it to himself and worked.

Zoro's role was more like a pack mule's, as expected, and he kept carrying people and medical stuff around until dawn. Franky arrived somewhere in between the busiest hours after having left several squads in charge of Terevera's streets.

The sun was rising when most of the people had been sent to a hospital and only a few ones remained to be tended to, which Chopper was currently doing on no sleep at all but absolutely focused on his job.

It was around then when Sanji finally gave himself a break and plopped down on the grass. He had dismissed any treatment until anyone was taken care of, and his body was complaining about it. Sure enough, all of his wounds had opened, his back was hurting again, half of his face must be looking like a map and hurt like a bitch (he honestly hoped he'd save the eye), and he had verified that, yes, something had stabbed him on the side while he had been buried in that excuse of a hole he'd been laying for long enough to start talking to a dead man. He had half-assedly stopped the hemorrhage, but he was pretty sure it was starting to get infected, and he had lost enough blood to be at the verge of losing consciousness, but he couldn't bring himself to give a fuck.

The plan had gone well in the end. Everybody was safe. Everybody except for Kevin. He sighed. It took him a while to get his thoughts in order but, once he did, he decided he'd be attending his funeral.

He only half sensed it when Zoro came his way after being shooed away by Chopper, who was in the process of ordering his whole crew to disappear and fucking _rest_ before he finished with his patients and went to tend to them.

"So."

Sanji turned to stare at him and Zoro plopped by his side, mustering all of his chill in order to show a casual demeanor. Anything that didn't involve him looking obsessed with the cook would work, and nonchalance was his best friend at the moment, despite the bubbling in his stomach as his eye met Sanji's visible (and maybe only) eye. He did look like shit. He needed a doctor to see him, urgently so.

"So," Sanji mimicked, slightly amused with the long pause and the tone that suggested they were laying on a beach in a summer day with two piña coladas in their hands after days of doing nothing but boring themselves to death. Which was far from reality.

Zoro smirked back and found his hand patting the back of Sanji's neck, right above his shoulders, only to stay resting there in half a grip that reminded the viewer of camaraderie.

"So, basically… yeah. Tonight. Tonight you have, so far, gone on a solo mission in order to free some lucky bastards, all the while setting your _grand_ scheme and fucking the king's whole defense up, which even _I_ must admit was smart for someone who lacks a brain. You've lead a rebellion against the Crown; managed to get two hundred people out of their cells safe and sound while kicking a guardian's ass; proceeded to send the whole prison and upper wing to shit with a kicking fit or whatever excuse of a plan you thought you had there; _and_ successfully brought back that man's body for his family to mourn."

It had started off as playful and obviously taunting, but his tone had grown intense and his expression serious and full of something neither of them could pinpoint, partially because of the seriousness of some of the things he had just said (which weren't meant to be the focus of a joke anymore), and partially because there was this combusting feeling washing over him as the words left his mouth and actually sunk in; something akin to pride and admiration and… something else. Something intense enough to have his hand unconsciously gripping Sanji's nape with a need shocking to both of them. Sanji's smirk had slowly faded into confusion and uncertainty, only a hint of amusement left in his eye for Zoro to discern, but it was barely there as seriousness took over it.

The words were still flowing from Zoro's mouth as he listed every single thing Sanji had achieved that night, and he found himself fighting the compelling urge to blurt how fucking amazing Sanji was, because he _truly was _and it was suddenly hitting him, and there was nothing his own pride or self-consciousness could do to stop him from fully believing it. They did stop him from saying it out loud as he willed the words away with a harsher squeeze of Sanji's neck. Sanji had gone still and looked between annoyed and expectant now.

"Where does this come from?" he muttered.

It was a fair question, really. Zoro didn't know what had gotten in to him; he had initially come to check on Sanji and maybe joke around a bit to distract him, not to list all the reasons Sanji was utterly awesome, but here he was. He didn't know where it came from, it had just slipped without him having any control over it; it's not like he had prepared a speech, but he knew Sanji needed to hear some of his own achievements and accept some credit. He deserved.

Zoro ignored Sanji's question and avoided looking for an answer at the back of his mind. His lost smirk turned into a small smile, one that had Sanji blinking at him by the sheer intensity it was packed with and the way it made his stomach coil in response.

"Not too crappy of a job, now, was it, cook?"

And, yes, that was fondness coming out of his throat like a tsunami, linking the words together in the most innocent way he could muster them without conveying how he truly felt about Sanji's actions that night. How fucking proud he was. How fucking great the man in front of him was. Despite how much of an idiot he proved himself to be sometimes.

Sanji's eye widened a tad, taken aback, but he stood in ground as Zoro's hand kneaded his neck with something they couldn't _exactly_ call affection. It felt similar to that, but there was a difference somewhere along the meaning of the term. Affection was way too much for them. The way Zoro was smiling and griping at him in what was the closest to a caress he'd ever get _couldn't_ be packed with affection. That wasn't for them.

"You could've been faster," Sanji blurted in his most deliberately annoying tone, forcing them out of whatever the hell that had been.

Zoro's hand distractedly left Sanji's nape, and he felt coldness where his fingers had been. Zoro took the bait.

"And you could've maybe _not_ destroyed a whole wing and been buried by it. That would have been a little bit more convenient than hauling you out of there after looking for your sorry ass for hours."

"Where's the king?"

"Under Aila's custody. I think Allen joined her a while ago. They'll judge him, or whatever."

Sanji nodded.

"How's your eye?"

"Meh."

Zoro smirked, a bit. He then heard a few yells coming their way and raised his head until his eye spotted a fuming reindeer stomping in their direction.

"Chopper's coming for you," he announced in a deadpan. "I think he's angry at you."

Sanji looked in his direction and frowned with dread. "He looks angry."

He didn't sound happy. Zoro was amused, to an extent. Only if he ignored Sanji's overall condition. If he took that into account, he may end up ripping his hair out.

"Good luck," he wished as he stood up, hoping not to be caught in the crossfire.

"What the fuck, moss head, don't bail on me now!"

Sanji sounded a bit desperate. Zoro grinned with a certain dose of malice.

"Too bad."

"_Sanji fucking Blackleg_, get your ass over here _right about now_! What is it I hear a _building_ fell on you?! When were you planning on telling me, exactly, uh?!"

Sanji hid the uninjured side of his face behind a hand in genuine distress.

"Ah, fuck."

He looked for Zoro, but he was already jogging away, leaving him to fend for himself.

"_That bastard."_

**TBC**

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**A/N: **wait what wow! It's been two years since I started this story, where has time gone! So long chapter for you all! I hope it wasn't too draining and I hope the story line moved fast enough for you not to get bored! But, yay, king's finally defeated and Sanji can take a rest! So can I omg, this was tough, but definitely worth it if you liked it!

I want to thank everyone who has followed this story and given feedback and kind comments or even silently support it, both the people who have stuck from the beginning and the ones who have started reading it more recently! You're the reason I keep on writing it and still feeling motivated after two years, so thank you so so much! Love you all a lot!

(Shameless spam here, but I have another active story going on, it's called What Is Love and it's an AU; I know Come Back takes a long time to update sometimes, so I'll also be working on that story and updating in between every time I'm not all that inspired with Come Back, in case you want to take a look at it and maybe not wait for a billion years every time I get stuck with CB (so sorry about that, but sometimes school kicks _hard_))

So, yes, thanks everyone a lot and I hope you enjoyed this special chapter. I know I promised to myself I wouldn't engage such a long chapter ever again for my own mental health and your poor bleeding eyes, but I'm a shameless liar and it's been two years to celebrate, so I'm going to tell myself it's justified :)

Big hug to everyone!


	40. Chapter 40 - Having Fun

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**Chapter 40**

**Having Fun**

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Sanji woke up to a pair of lips dragging across his jaw. He'd been sleeping soundly, as he had been doing often after Chopper had decided to put him on sedatives again see if he behaved and rested instead of wandering around while helping repair the city, but his eyes forced themselves open quite fast after he registered the touch.

He wouldn't have needed to be met with a mass of moss in front of his eyes to know whose lips they were, but it still pissed him off big time. It smelled clean at least; Zoro must've just taken a shower.

"No."

He heard a groan and then Zoro was lifting his head and fixing him with a glare.

Sanji frowned back. "I am sleeping."

"Not anymore."

"Are you really _that_ horny that you _had_ to wake me up?"

Zoro deadpanned. "Kind of."

"You're out of luck, then. Fuck off, go do something useful and try to keep it in your pants."

Zoro grumbled something sounding suspiciously like 'fuck you', clearly pissed off at Sanji's refusal, but he still propelled himself on his arms, freeing Sanji from the slight weight he had put on him while hovering over him, and went to put on his haramaki and retrieve his swords. Sanji was no fun.

He hadn't originally intended to assault him, to be honest. He had merely been complying with his duty to check on his wounds while Chopper wasn't there, which Chopper himself had made him promise to do. It just so happened that the only time of the day when Zoro could actually do his job was when Sanji was sleeping, else the blonde would easily kick him away with a few curses. When he slept he didn't budge, not much at least, and if Zoro was subtle enough, he didn't even stir into awareness, which made Zoro's life considerably more sufferable and the risk of being elbowed in the face diminish consistently.

He had been particularly worried about Sanji's eye, especially after Chopper had confirmed the fact that the wound hovering around it had done nothing but stretch after their assault at the palace. It wasn't entirely unusual for Zoro to stride towards Sanji, catching him unguarded, and randomly lift his hair out of his face to make sure there wasn't any more blood tinting his bandages, which had been justified for the first few days, since it did tend to start bleeding again more often than any of them wanted, thus requiring due attention.

In his defense, for the most part it was Chopper who annoyingly checked on him, but Zoro couldn't help it sometimes. Sanji would yell at him and try to kick his ass if he wasn't forcefully resting in bed, but Zoro would make a dash and disappear before he had the chance to be questioned about his very much questionable actions. He generally saved it for when Sanji was asleep, though; that was the safest time to do so, both for his pride and his health, and he could even allow himself a rough touch over the bandages, see if they were sticking properly. It's just that sometimes he'd catch Sanji poking at them and all alarms would ring and make him act worryingly out of character; to be fair, for the first few days such gestures _had_ been a telling sign about his stitches popping, so checking on him had been quite the advisable course of action since Sanji wouldn't warn Chopper himself. Nowadays it was just itching bothering the blonde, and Zoro knew it, so he'd been trying to tone it down with gradual success until his inspection was marginally reserved to quiet mornings or late nights, when Sanji wouldn't be awake to call him out on his bullshit.

It's not like he saw him that often, though.

Luffy had decided, along with his whole crew's consent, that they'd be staying in Terevera for at least another week or two in order to help the kingdom stabilize after the sudden coup d'état. There was a lot of repairing to do, and there were dissidences between Terevera's people, so keeping some sort of peace was in order, and everyone could use a hand. It wasn't like its society was openly divided and bound to start a civil war, far from it. Many had seen what their king had been doing to their own people, and everyone had at least heard about it by now, so the main uncertainty laid on what came next instead of on trying to snatch the power back, but there was a marginal amount of well-off people who'd been more than benefited by the king's system and who didn't exactly fancy the potential new order. Those bastards caused a bit of trouble here and there, but it wasn't a huge issue, at least not one the arena fighters along with the Strawhats couldn't deal with.

The way things were, Zoro left the hotel early in the morning and didn't come back after well past midnight some days, which turned the time he shared with the blonde to scarce minutes a day, if any at all. Sometimes he'd leave while Sanji was still sleeping (heavily induced by Chopper's sedatives), and come back to find him in that same state.

It's not like Sanji slept all day; he had refused to go along with Chopper's bullshit more than was absolutely necessary to not be considered insubordination and get him strapped on his bed, but his sedatives' doses increased at night and had him sleeping like a child until late morning, leaving him slightly subdued for the rest of the day. He'd initially been forbidden to leave the room, but that had lasted about two days and only because Sanji had been feeling generous. After some serious arguing and a few threats coming from both sides, they had reached the agreement that Sanji could collaborate by cooking massive meals for everyone working in the streets, along with people who had been rendered homeless during the assault. Several hotels were hosting those people as well as they could, but they still had to be fed, and Sanji proved to be a God in that department, which ended up with him having top quality chefs under his orders as he cooked for hundreds of people. That task didn't require that much moving around, and certainly not straining his muscles like he would have done had he been helping to repair buildings, so Chopper ended up leaving him to his own, coming by every now and then to check everything was still in place.

Sanji would have done more, really, but feeding people was important enough, something he put great pride and value into, not to mention the fact that the effects of Chopper's night sedatives lingered all day long, making him feel distracted and sleepy and erasing all kinds of insubordination from his body.

All in all, no, they didn't see each other a lot, and Zoro thought it was for the better. After having been around each other 24/7 for a fucking _eternity_ and during their rockiest moments, with everything it had entailed, he felt like he'd gone through a serious Sanji-overdose, which he was pretty sure went both ways.

Together, they were incendiary, both for the best and for the worst. Sexual tension had proven to escalate equally as fast and intensively as their lack of tolerance towards each other; they had learned to solve it through fighting, in the past, and now also by fooling around as well, which Zoro was rather pleased with, but there was a limit to how many times he could explode around Sanji on a daily basis, and they had been playing with the edge of 'unbearable' for a long time. Their attack to the palace had been a peak, and he was clever enough to know that anything after that would have easily turned into the wrong kind of tension if all the intensity his gut was filled with when being near the blonde was anything to go by. It _had_ to burst at some point, and that could as easily end up in a great fuck (no, Sanji wouldn't let it go that far, so maybe something a bit more toned down) as it could crash in utter disaster.

Luckily enough, life's circumstances had been keeping them occupied and away from each other for the consistent period of a week, to the point Zoro was starting to miss some of their usual banter. An overdose was clearly dangerous, but Zoro wasn't game for almost no contact at all either, it seemed. They still shared the same room. No one had seemed to find it necessary to change the state of things, and hotels were currently cramped with overcome homeless people, so there hadn't been any questioning about it. They had just gone back to their respective beds, end of it.

If Zoro came back late at night and found Sanji sleeping, he'd walk over to him without thinking. He'd examine his injuries, and he'd feel the burn against his fingertips every time he made contact with his skin, but he wouldn't wake him up. He'd clench his jaw, clean up, and go to sleep, forcing tension out of his body before he did anything stupid.

If Sanji was awake by the time he called it a day, either him or the blonde would grunt a few words until one of them sparked a flame and a tired competitive instinct ignited. They were both tired, but it was still there, and it didn't take that much for them to fire it. It was a bit of a relief, Zoro thought. And Sanji agreed. After a whole day of never-ending cooking for hundreds of people if not thousands, or of reconstruction, in Zoro's case, which was always spiked by some sort of fight or attempt at revolt he'd have to put an end to, it was a breath of fresh air to go back to their antics and let tension seep out of their bodies through banter. It never went too far since they were too tired, and it was unusually playful, for they sought a good way to end the day rather than a full-on stress-relieving can in each other.

It had gotten out of hand, once, and Zoro didn't even know how he'd ended up yanking at Sanji's shirt and planting his lips against his, but Sanji had humored him with thorough dedication. He had always been easily ignited if one knew what buttons to press, and claiming his lips like he wanted personal dominion over them was a great way to get him to respond, Zoro discovered. At least until he'd tried to bring it further and Sanji had forcefully put some distance back between them, glaring at him as he shot down his protests. In all fairness, Sanji was still recovering from his wounds and sported a limp, so it was rather justified if he didn't feel like putting his body to test even when he had a raging boner to help Zoro's rather lame arguments in favor of at least jerking each other off. Zoro knew better than to seriously argue when a 'no' was presented; he could respect a 'no' and he'd be an asshole if he didn't, but that didn't mean he'd obediently let it go without trying, not because he was intending on changing Sanji's opinion (although he'd gladly welcome it), but because he and Sanji had a routine based on antagonizing each other, and there was at least a bit of pissing the other off he had to pull before dropping it without their relationship straying away from their general standards.

There had been other arguments that had ended up morphing from playful banter to heated up expecting-something-else's, but Sanji had stepped away before Zoro had even grasped the chance of turning it physical, which had left Zoro horny and unattended quite a few times.

The thought would often cross his mind that it was a rather worrying piece of information to discover about himself: if he didn't even _see_ the blonde that much, if at all, it wasn't exactly reassuring that half of the times he did he ended up horny and frustrated.

It was moments like that when he thanked the forced distance between them. The atmosphere was charged enough with them simply sharing a room and exchanging a few daily words, let alone if they were to go back to spending their whole waking hours together.

Last night had been one of those nights. Zoro hadn't taken care of his problem before going to sleep, and he had ended up waking up already frustrated and in a slightly bad mood, itching for something. He had initially planned on checking Sanji's wounds, but had ended up kissing his face in the process, and he honestly didn't know where the connection between his intentions and his actions had derailed _this_ drastically, but next thing he knew Sanji was awake and rejecting him _again_, so it's not like it had ended up making a difference asides from the fact that he had embarrassed himself.

"What are you doing today?" Sanji sleepily asked, lazily stretching his body under the covers. Zoro was glad to see it every time he did that; it meant his back was better. He wasn't even able to turn around when it was fucked up.

He was rather entranced with watching Sanji's movements and letting relief sink in for the umpteenth time (really, he had seen Sanji stretch plenty of times already to have it thoroughly confirmed that his back wasn't about to break anymore, it didn't even come as a surprise, so why the hell did it keep hitting him as something fantastic to have reconfirmed every single time?) to register Sanji's question until he had Sanji looking at him with a weird demanding glare that suggested he might have been questioning either his hearing ability or his intelligence, if not both.

"Mmm… there's a pretty fucked up district… don't know where," he tried to pull together, strapping his swords against his haramaki.

"Of course you don't."

"_I'm gonna be helping there_," Zoro cut him with a glowering scowl, trying to let the comment pass instead of falling for it. "With Luffy, I think. I don't know. I'll just ask around until someone tells me what to do exactly."

"Make sure someone accompanies you there."

"What are you? My grandmother?"

"Make sure someone does," Sanji ignored him.

His voice sounded rough with sleep, and it shouldn't have been this appealing, really. Zoro needed to get his shit together.

"Else we will never hear of you again. Next thing we know you may be lost in another island."

"Fuck off."

"Luffy would be sad."

"You'd miss me."

Wait, what. _Where the fuck had that come from?_

Zoro froze a bit as he sent a cautious and wary glance at Sanji, who was staring back with a studiedly unimpressed expression.

"Most definitely _not_."

For once, Zoro didn't try to argue. He was fast at getting everything ready and leaving before he could blurt anything stupider than he had already. It didn't escape him that Sanji hadn't made any more attempts at pissing him off, despite Zoro almost falling face first when he failed to notice the pooled sheets around his bed and stumbled onto them on his way out. He thought he heard a snort as he closed the door behind him, but that was about it. No further teasing, no further anything. In case Zoro dropped another stupid word combo like the one he had just thrown at both their faces. It had been meant to be a joke, but it hadn't exactly sounded like one, and they had both noticed, despite Sanji's effort to respond like he would've if nothing had been amiss.

Oh, well.

Sanji would definitely turn any of his potential advances down when he came back that night, and the next one at least, that was for sure.

* * *

Luffy gave the most part of what they had earned in Terevera to its new provisional headboard in order to get reparations done. Nami almost had a heart attack, and that was putting it lightly.

The drama that followed Luffy's decision was tragic enough to almost be worth getting some popcorn and staying close to watch it display. That's what Zoro did, although he couldn't find popcorn without leaving the scene early, so he made-do without them in favor of seeing it to its end. Sanji had earnestly tried to console the redhead, politely inviting her to keep her wails down to prevent citizens from thinking world war was about to hit their country, but that did almost nothing to soothe her. He would've aligned with Nami's wishes anytime, but he could hardly dispute Luffy's decision without coming off as heartless to even himself. It was fair and necessary, and Nami must've also understood that, because despite the crazy yelling and dramatic reaction (which had almost ended with her pulling her hair out for real), she stopped putting further objections altogether, acting as if nothing had happened the day after, no hard feelings or anything. It's just that she loved her money, and she had a hard time letting go, Sanji defended when Zoro accused her of being a selfish witch. Which she wasn't, and he knew that, but traditions were meant to be kept.

A few days later it reached his ears that she had arranged everything so that a larger quantity than Luffy had originally accorded was given to the headboard, making them sign on paper that there'd be specified sums going to every single family in need and arranging compensations to every single prisoner and person forced to work for the Government, which she forced them to accept with a lot of effective persuasion and Robin's intimidating company by her side during the negotiation.

They kept what they needed to comfortably continue their journey (which spoke volumes of how much they had ended up earning through breaking casinos and winning tournaments, since the biggest part of the bulk had been left to Terevera and they still had a fair amount left for them). Food and other supplies were provided by Terevera's businesses for free no matter how much the Strawhats insisted otherwise.

Zoro had been playing pack mule again and he had been put in charge of following Sanji around for his purchases two days before leaving, when everything was less of a mess and Sanji could actually do stuff without Chopper breathing down his neck. Sanji took advantage of his still convalescent state (convalescent his ass, he was fine now, but Chopper's books still considered him a patient and Sanji was using that card to his benefit, the bastard) to put more bags than normal in Zoro's hands, which earned him extensive streaks of insults and curses; Zoro received a smirk in return. Sanji still carried stuff, quite too much for your average person, and enough for Chopper to scold him to no end, and Zoro knew he got tired faster than normal, but he didn't complain, where's the surprise. They had to go back to the market a few times and Chopper joined them by the third, making sure Sanji didn't overwork himself, without much success.

It was a nightmare and a painful headache. With Zoro still being the decided pack mule, his mood ruined, Chopper continuously arguing with Sanji and managing to get more bags in Zoro's direction when Chopper reached his own limit and considered Sanji had reached his, and Sanji arguing back, he was more than ready to go back to the hotel and sleep it off. He didn't even try to tease Sanji, he simply planted himself face-first on his bed and told Sanji to fuck off when the blonde said something rather offensive in his usual playful manner.

It only hit him when Sanji was already asleep and he still couldn't drift off that the day had been pretty standard. Neither him nor Sanji had engaged any compromised behavior around each other despite spending almost all day together again, and there hadn't been a moment for them to fall back to that kind of weird tension (sexual tension) hovering over them for the last few weeks. Their interactions had been their usual. And by usual he didn't mean their _new _usual, but their old comfortable pattern of interactions, where they'd argue while actually getting the job done better and faster than they would've with anyone else, getting tired of each other by the end of the day and settling for ignoring each other's mugs by the time they went to sleep. Sanji had made one or two comments and Zoro had sent him to hell, sure, but that was standard and it hadn't been charged with the will to rile each other up in expectations of what was to come if any of them tried hard enough. It had been… nice. Peaceful even, despite the harsh words and the undoubted arguing base of it all. It had been normal, and Zoro hadn't felt the need to watch himself all day. He couldn't recall saying anything embarrassing, nor thinking anything particularly worrying, and he felt a sense of relief washing over him. He had missed it, but he had gotten a glimpse of what they used to be like today, and he was glad, oh so glad.

So they _could_ do normal.

He'd been fearing that was something they had lost, and he had been worried shitless because of it seeing as he had been rather unable to control himself around Sanji for ages, but today had been ordinary and stress-free in the emotional department. See? If he tried hard enough he could get rid of his Sanji-obsession, it was now proven that it could give him a break from time to time, and he could hope it would continue to improve. He'd been sexually frustrated for a few days now and it still hadn't taken a toll on him today despite the long hours by Sanji's side, so he went through some mental reassurance that fooling around with Sanji was more of a convenience in times of need than it was the result of his obsession, and that the urge didn't drive his actions all day long.

An outsider may have asked how the hell both things linked together, but Zoro was satisfied with himself. If days like today were still a real possibility, he wasn't as fucked up as he thought every single time Sanji made him irrationally frustrated. It _could_ fade away and go back to normal, agreements of fooling around aside, and that was good news.

It was with this thought that he finally fell asleep.

* * *

Last night was meant to culminate with a huge celebration, not that it came as a surprise to anyone. With a country that was still shocked and trying to process what had been going on after an unannounced rebellion, it should have probably been unlikely to happen, but the Strawhats were there and many people were extremely grateful to them, so huge party in both Terevera's streets and its still-standing clubs it was.

Sanji had been allowed to go, thanks fuck, he may have attempted a risky incursion if that hadn't been the case, which would have ended up badly for both him and Chopper. He was under strict no-drinking orders, but everyone knew limits would be crossed that night.

Needless to say, it was nuts, like any party with the Strawhats should be. Luffy was messing around avenues and streets since a whole district had been set up to host all guests, and their captain found everything happening in the streets way more interesting than whatever went on in clubs, which he had already seen over the past few weeks.

The crew kept an eye on each other so that no one (Zoro) would get lost, but for the most part, everyone minded their business, dividing into groups and meeting back by chance at some points during the night, a lot of booze in hand and less and less composed every time they caught sight of their crew members after losing track of them.

"Sanji!"

He was alone now. He had quite obviously disregarded Chopper's orders not to drink and had officially taken a liking to Terevera's particular brand of booze, but he had been warned of its effects and he had taken to keeping it light and making his pints last before he crossed the limit. He had downed one and was starting on the second, which he was planning to turn into the last one; he didn't want to end like Zoro had that fateful night more than two weeks ago. But he could definitely feel it climbing up his brain, and it wasn't entirely unpleasant. It gave him a different type of sense of alienation than Chopper's medicines, and it was rather nice.

It took him a few seconds to locate the voice yelling his name and he was met with the sight of Allen sorting his way through hordes of happy-looking people. Terevera's citizens needed a break for all its worth, so Sanji was glad they were also having fun despite the party being thrown in the Strawhats' name.

"I've been looking for you for ages, man!" he greeted.

His nose was still kind of crooked and his face pretty much covered in bruises, distorting his handsome features. Sanji had gone hard on him and he had probably stolen all of his worth as a playboy, but Allen didn't seem to resent him for it. Not that Sanji resented him or Aila from trying to end his life through dirty playing either, so he guessed they were at peace.

"How are you feeling?" Allen asked, clasping a hand on his shoulder, a wide smile making its way across his face.

Sanji had seen him during the reform days, but it had mostly been him quickly passing by Sanji's spot to grab something to eat and continue with the city's reconstruction, so they hadn't had a chance to properly talk or ask about each other's wellbeing asides from a quick 'hi, good job, see you later'.

"Quite alright now that I have alcohol in my system and not my doctor's painkillers, to be honest. No disrespect. We all love Chopper."

Allen laughed good-heartedly and nodded a few times. "Your doctor is adorable. But I'll have to agree with you, man, alcohol is the cure."

Sanji grinned. Allen wasn't entirely sober either, not to say he was quite far from it.

"What about you? Are your wounds healing alright?" he asked.

He didn't usually _ask_, unless it was to a woman, simply because he didn't care or thought pride (both his and the other man's) was above it. But he was responsible for Allen's injuries, and he had discovered the twin was a pretty decent guy to have around when not in disposition to kill him. He wasn't someone who had wanted to do harm to anyone, but he had gone to all lengths to do so because life had forced him to, and Sanji could fully relate to that shitty situation. So he asked.

"Fine, fine, I'm doing great, don't worry," Allen dismissed. He looked almost carefree. Nothing like the enigmatic bastard he had once thought he was. He definitely looked younger, and he gave the vibe of being a good man now that he could actually afford to start acting like one.

Sanji smiled at him.

"Sorry about that."

Allen's eyes widened. "No, please, no, don't apologize. I… you… I'm the one who wants to apologize. I know I did so plenty of times when you kept visiting us after the fight, so I'm not going to repeat myself, but I do believe I never got the chance to thank you. That's why I came here."

Sanji blinked. "You don't need to…"

He was rather uncomfortable with people letting their pride vanish to thank him for stuff he thought was completely natural he had done, and it showed. He'd done what he had because he was a decent person who _could_ do it, so he had. It wasn't something he needed proud people like Allen to thank him for.

But Allen bowed his head at him, all traces of drunkenness gone by now.

"Thank you. For everything you've done," he let out, loud and clear. "You have given us a chance where this country never gave us one. You fought our fight for us and you almost lost your life because of it; I heard about you almost being buried alive." Allen lifted his head to look at him in the eye, and he looked rather moved. Sanji wanted to be swallowed by the ground. It was a prideful man who might as well have been thanking him on his knees that was in front of him. And Sanji didn't know how to deal with that if not by making him stop. "_Thank you_," Allen repeated.

"It's fine," Sanji muttered, patting him awkwardly on the back. "No big deal."

He sounded and looked pretty cool for how uncomfortable he was. He had noticed a group of admirers watching him from a few meters away, and they were positively cooing at how manly and cool he was. Great. He would've honestly taken that chance with the ladies, but it would've been a huge disrespect towards Allen and he didn't exactly feel like taking merits for whatever they thought he was a hero for.

Allen dropped the formalities and grinned brightly. Sanji understood how he'd been one of the stars at the brothel he'd been working in. He was far from openly considering a man attractive, but he could acknowledge when one was objectively good-looking, and Allen was, by all standards, handsome as fuck, which was now marred by his crooked nose and scars and bruises in his face, sadly. Not that it stirred anything in particular in Sanji asides from guilt that he might have ruined Allen's career (if that's what he wanted to keep doing, although he doubted it), but he found himself considering those things as facts, which lead to him blinking at Allen in profound confusion at his own train of thought.

"Aila wanted to see you too, she suggested a toast. I lost her a while ago, though."

"Let's go find her then."

She was inside one of the clubs, one Allen had guessed on by claiming it was her general 'go-to'. Funny enough, Zoro was with her, leaning against the bar and looking rather distressed by Aila's apparently endless chatter. It didn't take a genius to know she had purposely been pestering him. That seemed to be something she thoroughly enjoyed, much to Zoro's despair.

"Let him live, Aila," Allen warned, elbowing her in the side without a bit of care and making himself a spot between the greenhead and his sister to order drinks at the bartender.

"I was just suggesting we should have fun together, but he's got a stick up his ass and won't budge. Tell me, Zoro, do you perhaps prefer men? My brother might be a better match."

Zoro choked on his drink and legit feared for his life as he felt alcohol burning down the wrong pipe. Sanji would have clapped his back to avoid his premature death but he was too busy laughing his ass off at Zoro's priceless expression. Which he wouldn't have laughed that much about if he knew where Zoro's distress came from. He had seen Aila's gaze evilly flickering towards Sanji before dropping the question, squaring her face into her standard pestering mode by the time the blonde had stared at her, but Zoro could swear she had smirked at him, the bitch.

Fuck, she was drunk. So was he. And Aila being drunk and reading his drunk thoughts was a _bad_ combination. Fuck Terevera's star drink. Aila hadn't been trying to get him to have fun with her, she had merely been annoying him in another one thousand ways, but definitely not that one, and he was pretty sure that the thought that had crossed his mind once he had spotted Sanji in the crowd through his inebriated state was that the cook looked good in that blue suit. Fuck her. That woman knew how to play. How had he ended up stuck with her? Oh, right he had gotten lost and she had found him in the crowd, dragging him along with her.

Sanji's reaction had been a blessing amongst all the bad outcomes that comment could've had, though. He was surely taking too much amusement on the fact that Zoro had almost _died_ in front of him, which was rather offensive, but he had laughed Aila's comment off. He hadn't looked freaked out or tense, which would've been rather expected if he had assumed Aila had made any kind of connection between Zoro liking men and Sanji being the man he was currently fooling around with. He obviously hadn't thought of that at all, merely enjoying the reaction it had earned. Zoro observed he was also pretty buzzed by the way his nose crinkled more than normal when laughing. He didn't seem to have a problem with having encountered Zoro either. He wasn't drunk _drunk_, but he was on a happier stage than usual, and it suited Zoro just fine. He doubted their doctor's opinion would align with his, though.

"Chopper said no drinking," he reminded him.

Sanji gulped down a third of the pint he had in hand. "Fuck off."

"I honestly hope you haven't drunk much of that, else you're going to experience hell tomorrow, no lie."

"Second pint. I'm not planning on having anymore, stop worrying, _mother_."

Oh, yes, Sanji was definitely _not_ sober.

"You better not," Allen interceded. "Zoro's right, too much is hell."

"You're all pansies," Aila declared, raising her third pint in the air. "Let's toast."

"What for?" Zoro wanted to know, nose scrunched.

"Freedom," Allen suggested.

Sanji recalled being led around by Allen so that they could toast, since that's what Aila wanted, and he wasn't about to refuse her. He had started out not liking her at all for reasons he preferred not to contemplate, but she had proven to be a blast to talk to, and she was fun and kind when not trying to kill you, so he had had to erase all of his prejudices for the sake of basic decency. He couldn't dislike someone who didn't deserve to be disliked, much less a woman.

"For freedom," he grinned, joining her.

Zoro was watching him, aware of his change of attitude around the woman, which had pretty much started after their match, right after she and her brother had tried to kill them both, which wasn't the most natural turning point for someone to make amends with people, but Sanji was Sanji and he was a good man with few to no grudges towards anyone. Sanji was _kind_. Zoro thought it was a good word to describe him. He watched the cook even as he raised his own pint alongside theirs, but ended up shifting his attention to complete the task at hand. He should have expected Aila to be looking at him, but he didn't register it, so by the time they drank from their tankards he found Aila smiling at him knowingly and he felt lost as to why.

"What's so funny?"

Her smile turned into a smirk. "Nothing."

The four of them talked for a while, Zoro mainly listening and Sanji and Aila carrying the most part of the conversation like they had never been at odds with each other. Zoro couldn't help noticing Aila held a fond spark behind her eyes when she talked to Sanji, and he recognized it as deep gratefulness. Sanji had saved them. Their parents were freely celebrating somewhere in the city with old friends they hadn't been able to see for years, and the twins weren't worried about them because they knew they were _fine_. It had all been thanks to Sanji, that selfless calculating bastard. He had always had a gift for seeing through things before anyone else could even sense them.

When Sanji turned to him with a small glare after Aila had directed a question at him and he hadn't responded, which was obviously rude in Sanji's books, Zoro realized he had been staring. For a long time. And in a pretty intense way if his efforts to get out of his daze were anything to go by. Sanji must've noticed, because his initial glare morphed into some kind of confused expression. Zoro felt his hands becoming sweaty with nervousness and the sinking feeling that he wasn't aiding his campaign to 'go back to normal' by acting this stupid.

"Uhm… what?" he helpfully provided.

"Are you _that_ drunk _again_?" Sanji unbelievingly demanded. Zoro almost sighed in relief. If anything, Sanji had connected Zoro's absent stare with his inebriated state; he wasn't even shrinking away from him in one of his wary fits.

"No," he scowled.

Sanji thought it looked childish and Aila laughed at it. Allen was now speaking to Sanji and Zoro's attention couldn't keep up with what they were saying, not as much because he was slightly drunk as it was because he was plainly confused. How much drifting off was his brain capable of when it came to Sanji? Yesterday had gone just fine! But, then again, he had alcohol in his system now, the same kind of alcohol that had gotten him wasted for the first time in his life.

He set his pint and what was left in it on the counter for it to be forgotten.

Aila was smirking at him for all her worth, but Zoro ignored her. If she had read his thoughts she could go fuck herself, she wasn't going to find fucking gold in there. Aila snickered and Zoro knew she had indeed been looking inside his head. Nosy witch.

At some point Aila announced they were leaving, not without a smug look directed at Zoro and a mouthed 'good luck' when Sanji wasn't looking. It was around the same moment Usopp came stumbling in with Brook, both of them cackling at something particularly funny and downright _squealing_ when they spotted them, as if they hadn't seen them for years. It couldn't have been more than one or two hours since their last encounter. That would be the fifth time either Zoro or Sanji crossed one of them that night. With the passing hours and pints, though, their happy yells every time they saw them evolved into something louder and happier and stupider. Now they seemed to be in a squealing stage. Sanji wondered what would come next.

They ordered more drinks, but none of them went for Terevera's specialty, instead opting for normal beer in order to keep the buzz going but not risking a third pint of what could very well mean hell if they drank it. They knew better now.

There's this point during parties when the main crazy peak has passed and the fun is still on and loud; dispersed groups start to gather back in one spot, half of them drinking and laughing and half of them still dancing and messing around, but doing so where they can spot each other. It's the silent agreement on where the party is going to end; fun still kicking, alcohol still running, loud voices still screaming over each other to be heard over the music, stupid things still being done that they will recall and laugh about the day after, due flirting being executed and last chances at finding someone to take home still being worked on.

That's when all the Strawhats seemed to meet. They had all ended up in that club, distributed in small groups, either between them or with the Terevera's citizens they had befriended over the past days, or going solo.

Zoro had been left alone against the bar, drinking his umpteenth beer and thinking he had found the perfect equilibrium between Terevera's booze and ordinary beer for him to experiment a moderate and pleasant amount of drunkenness he was starting to like, but not going through the total turmoil he had lived through the very first time he had tried the drink.

Sanji had been talking to a group of admirers, love-cook mode on, and he was now dancing with one of them. Zoro had first decided to ignore it, as he would often do in the past, but he found himself staring at the pair from behind his pint, an uneasy knot taking over his stomach every time she got too close to his face. Zoro was positively scowling.

Nami was chatting with Robin a few barstools away and he considered using them as a distraction, but he immediately thought better. He didn't want to get sucked up in one of their conversations; Nami would use the chance to get on his nerves and Robin would psychoanalyze him if he committed the mistake of minutely looking in Sanji's direction by mistake.

The dance had been rather innocent at the beginning, to be fair. Sanji was a great dancer, that much he could reckon, and there had been a roll of upbeat songs that had kept him busy with complicated footwork his partner seemed to be able to follow just fine. It was hard enough that they fell into easy laughter the more complicated a song got, Sanji spinning her around and her barely catching herself in time to complete the move before they had to go for the next one. At first, Zoro had even smiled a bit. Sanji looked happy, and he was having fun. Then came the slow songs and Zoro stopped finding Sanji's contagious smile that contagious. They were close and she was clearly giving him an opening which he kept on feinting to take.

Zoro's good mood had been flushed down the toilet. Sanji was talking in her ear and smiling at her in that flirty way he seemed to have mastered since birth, and Zoro hated to admit it looked attractive. He told himself Sanji could do whatever he wanted; that's what they had agreed on. Zoro shouldn't be feeling this uncomfortable. He should be able to look elsewhere, but here he was, staring at Sanji dancing with a woman who was clearly willing to share a bed if he was, which was none of Zoro's business.

He must've been staring way too intently, because Sanji ended up lifting his gaze and meeting his over the girl's back. Zoro had been expecting a confused stare in return, but what he got was a smirk.

Something churned so tight in his stomach it almost hurt. _Fuck him_.

Sanji kept on dancing, but now he was looking at him as he did. Fuck, Sanji knew how to dance, he was a natural. His moves were smooth and charged with intent, slightly mesmerizing if one stared long enough, and Zoro was definitely staring. The blonde kept on smirking every time he met Zoro's eye.

Zoro should've left. He should've felt insulted- _no_, he didn't have the right to. But he should've simply stopped staring and go do something else. He didn't. Instead, he kept himself planted in place, eye inked in Sanji's face in a silent fight. It was when his scowl deepened and Sanji let out a small laugh which earned him some kind of question from the woman that Zoro realized Sanji was _playing_. He saw it in the spark behind Sanji's trademark blue. He was playing with him. He had been playing since he had realized Zoro was looking at him. As if to prove his point, Sanji's hand got a hold of her waist and pressed her closer. Zoro's scowl deepened and the blonde went back to smirking like he had won a prize, and damn, was he attractive when he did that. Zoro's stomach dropped and his heartbeat started doing weird things, something similar to anger taking over him. It wasn't the bitter kind of anger, it was different in many ways, but the greenhead wouldn't be able to explain the feeling if his life depended on it.

Zoro should've stopped staring ages ago. What was he doing?

He didn't know for how long they danced, but he stared all along. At some point a group of girls around the same age as Sanji's partner walked towards them and talked to the woman, who ended up smiling at Sanji and kissing him on the cheek, waving at him with her hand as she left with her friends. Much to Zoro's surprise, Sanji didn't look anything close to disappointed; he was playing goofy like he normally would around women, but his smile was genuine as he bid her goodbye. Zoro was confused. That was it? He could've sworn Sanji would end up kicking him out of their shared bedroom that night. The blonde threw a weird checking gaze across the crowd, although Zoro didn't know what or who he was looking at. What he knew was the fact that Sanji looked quite satisfied with himself. It took a few seconds until his blue eye started travelling back to where Zoro was, to where Zoro was already looking at him, so their gazes locked. By now, the swordsman was rather expecting it when Sanji drew another teasing smirk that looked more provocative than anything else.

Then he left.

Zoro stared after his retreating form and followed without registering it, his stomach twisting in painful knots and his insides coiling in some kind of weird anticipation. By the time he made it through the doors Sanji had crossed, which he identified as the bathroom's, Sanji had already done his business and was washing his hands.

The blonde didn't look surprised when Zoro grabbed him by his suit's fabric and turned him around, harshly pressing his back against the first wall he found, face inches away from Sanji's. No, he wasn't surprised, he had known it was coming. He was still smirking. _That goddamn smirk_.

"What was that?" he demanded. Anger had faded away into the primal crawling sensation that challenges awoke in him, just that there was some sort of out-of-character possessiveness adding to the way he was fisting Sanji's collar.

Sanji flashed him with a playful _teasing_ smile. "What was that?" he repeated, tempting.

Zoro scoffed, an unwilling smirk mirroring Sanji's as his eye bored into blue. "Care to tell me what we're playing at?"

Sanji's grin was wolfish. "Feel free to guess."

He wasn't pushing his hand away, he was letting Zoro invade his personal space and basically manhandle him against the wall without seeming to mind at all. Zoro felt a tingling sensation at the bottom of his stomach.

"Got stood up?" he provoked him.

Something about Sanji's gaze told him the blonde had just gotten what he wanted, and Zoro had to let confusion wash over him for a moment.

"Nah. There was this guy stalking her around and she asked me to be her date for the night until the bastard got tired and left. Would've kicked his ass, but she was pretty sure having me around would be more than enough. Turns out she was right. Her friends are taking her back home, so she's going to be safe."

"Ah."

So that's what it had been about. Sanji hadn't even thought of getting her in bed with him, at least not realistically so, and she had been acting and merely having fun; all flirting had been a smoke screen.

"And you let her pull you into playing this kind of shit-game? You sure are hopeless around women."

"I like playing," Sanji declared. He sounded amused.

Zoro was so close their breaths were almost mingled together. Sanji wasn't backing away. "Looks like it."

Let's specify. All flirting between Sanji and the girl had been a smoke screen. Zoro was pretty sure Sanji had been flirting with _him _ever since he caught his gaze. There was no other way his predatory smirk and intent provoking stares made any sense. And Zoro had fallen for it.

"Were you perhaps jealous, Zoro?"

Sanji's tone was sultry and alluring for all the wrong reasons; it was designed to make him bolt. Zoro's breath caught a bit as his eyes fell on Sanji's smiling lips, and God, did Sanji know what that smirk did to people? He probably did.

"Am not," he muttered.

He had a feeling they had just stumbled into a long-lasting dangerous game. Sanji had been playing indeed; he'd been trying to get Zoro to show jealousy, he'd been working his way to making Zoro cave in, and the way he was cheekily staring at him told him Sanji had won this round, which they both new would lead to more of them. Zoro could almost hear the firing sign ringing in his ears. He'd be attempting to get Sanji back and Sanji would get him back in return, and there'd be no end to it once they took it as the challenge they knew it was. Zoro thought back on the ordinary and peaceful day they'd had the day before, when he had confidently thought things could gradually go back to normal, and he felt it far away. This was a disaster. And it was _thrilling_.

"Sure you aren't," Sanji murmured, taunting and _low_.

Oh, he had _definitely_ won.

"What do I look like?"

Zoro stopped his minute advance towards Sanji's lips to regain some space between them and fix him with a questioning stare. He wasn't in a rush. Sure, he was burning and ready to break under anticipation and his hand was fisting Sanji's collar harsher than it should have for the need he felt to close distances between them not to be called _intense_, but he could wait. Sanji wanted him tonight, and he was willing to humor whatever game he had established between them if it meant he'd have him in his bed by the end of the night.

He drew a lazy smile. The air between them felt static and oh so charged. He was barely keeping himself in place, but he did. "Elaborate."

"When I dance. You've been staring at me all night, so there must be something about the way I move…" Sanji's words were deliberate and meant to ignite, slow and hushed and _knowing_. "So I am curious. What do I look like when I dance, Zoro?"

His stomach was definitely dropping on a free fall and there was _definitely_ a boner in his pants. Sanji's voice was unfair. Sanji's deep blue was unfair. His dancing was unfair. His smirk was downright cruel and probably illegal.

"Pretty much like someone I'd fuck," he admitted, his tone punctured and firm despite the dancing predatory smile breaking through his features.

Sanji sounded amused and teasing at the same time his voice came out as completely serious and matter-of-fact when he answered. "Such a shame you won't be fucking me anytime soon."

Sanji liked to play. He had always _loved_ to. He was having fun and so was Zoro, despite knowing the blonde's words were a firm statement. He had known it from the start. But his pants were tight and Sanji was there, willing to fool around, more than a bit invested in playing that small provoking game. And Zoro was more than up for it.

"I can think of plenty of substitutes, though," he whispered as he closed the distance between them and kissed him hungrily enough to take both their breaths away but not enough to count as desperate.

It was passionate in many ways, but, for the first time, they weren't in an angry rush. They were both up for it and they were both playing with each other, not trying to make it quick to forget right afterwards, not denying what their guts wanted anymore, simply accepting it and going along with it. Sure, there was alcohol in both their organisms, but their heads were clear enough and it was as simple as their own enjoyment got.

Zoro felt a small knot in his stomach when Sanji caught his lower lip between his teeth and pulled at it, cheekily snickering when Zoro's eye parted to stare down at him with a heavy breath. He felt Sanji's tongue licking at it before he retreated, forcing Zoro to follow after him in a small chasing game before he decided to meet his mouth again, having earned temporary control by the time he did. Zoro was fine with it. He found out he was fine with anything Sanji did, at the moment. The remainders of a challenge rang at the back of both their heads and they were definitely battling for control over each other, which provided entertainment on its own, but Zoro let himself go a bit, slightly drowned by the alcohol buzz.

Sanji pushed him back at some point and Zoro looked at him in confusion while the blonde sneaked out of his grasp and put a few meters' distance between them, facing a sink and washing his hands again.

"Wha-"

The bathroom's door opened and a drunken man barged in, barely making it to a stall before throwing up. Zoro stared at the stall's wall and slowly turned towards Sanji, who was now wiping his hands and looking at him with an amused (if frustrated) gleam in his visible eye. He had sensed that bastard coming. Zoro had certainly been out of everything but Sanji's ministrations if he hadn't even felt a third presence marching towards them.

"Keep your hands to yourself until we get to the hotel," Sanji ordered, cheeky smile back in place. Oh, he was definitely having fun.

So was Zoro, in all honesty. Only if he forgot about the boner currently bothering him and positively unattended down there. He could use not wanting to kill the vomiting bastard who was currently going through hell by the nearest stall, and he could definitely use not feeling utterly frustrated, but there was a promise of later and Zoro liked the sound of that.

He stayed in the bathroom a bit longer after Sanji had left and got back to where the others were when he had calmed down. He tried to ignore the blonde and miserably failed, but it didn't go further than him boring a hole in Sanji's head every now and then and Sanji sending him a challenging stare every time he caught him. If someone noticed, no one said a thing.

By the time they were back to their room and Chopper had already scolded Sanji for drinking when he had promised he wouldn't (not that he had promised, Chopper had forced him to, but Sanji had never said 'yes'), they were all over each other.

They ended up tangled in Zoro's bed, with Zoro kissing Sanji's torso and stomach and leaving possessive marks here and there (which Sanji didn't complain about; Zoro had a feeling that they brought him some sort of amusement and he could only be thankful Sanji wasn't pulling the jealousy card on him again, despite knowing he was probably sing-songing it in his head), but he never went further down than his navel, choosing to use his hands where his mouth had decided it wouldn't reach. There had been something pretty intimate and out-of-place tinting the atmosphere when Zoro had first and last done that, something more intimate than jerking each other off, something scarier about the way they had both acted at the time, and Zoro was rather reluctant to relive it, not because it hadn't felt nice; he had definitely found pleasure and satisfaction in breaking Sanji apart and he would do it again if remnants of emotional shit didn't threat to come to surface with the way he had found Sanji looking at him as he went down on him… with the way they both knew it had still been too early for _that_ back then, yet Zoro had gone ahead and done it. It would be a while until Zoro got that kind of initiative back; he wasn't as sure of himself as he would've liked to be to put himself back in what felt like a vulnerable position in front of Sanji anytime soon.

Sanji didn't seem to have a problem with it; if the face he was pulling and the soft sounds he was letting out were anything to go by, Zoro's hand was doing a fine job on its own.

Sanji was festive and demanding, Zoro was learning, something he probably didn't allow himself to be when he was with women. With Zoro, he was rather selfish. He demanded what he wanted and he pulled at his green strands without restraint, nails raking marks all across Zoro's body when his hands weren't busy taking care of the swordsman. But he was also selfless. He was selfish when receiving, right, but he was dedicated when he gave, and Zoro had the suspicion that Sanji enjoyed breaking Zoro apart as much as he liked being taken care of. Then again, it was a challenge, and Sanji would do pretty much everything in hand to overpower Zoro when it came to the effect he had on him, but Sanji paid attention to know what he liked and what he didn't, and he went with it without blinking an eye, accommodating to whatever might feel better for Zoro.

And he was great, damn, Sanji was amazing in bed. They just matched, and it was as good and gruff as they'd want to make it, knowing the other could take it.

Still, it wasn't as desperate and anger-driven as it had been the other times. They had time, and they were taking it.

It may have been the alcohol (they had a stock of Terevera's specialty and beer barrels in their room, after all, and Zoro had been refilling mugs of beer regularly enough since they had closed the door behind them), but they went at it for hours, trying to force each other's limits every time they were over each other again. There weren't that many possibilities left if they took fucking and blowing each other off out of the picture, but they made it work. They sure as hell didn't get bored. Not with how Sanji was bent on rutting over him like an animal in heat, and damn, Sanji was _fire_. He was laughing more than usual, taking personal enjoyment in the way Zoro's jaw would fall every time he did something right or the way he would accidentally moan when Sanji did something amazing. Zoro would've gotten mad; he knew Sanji was doing it on purpose to tick him off and note it down in his list of small victories (he had to keep reminding himself this was a game, a challenge), but Sanji snickered every single time and Zoro found himself unable to feel anything but a knot in his stomach when he looked at him, on occasion, or an insistent urge to impart revenge that would end up with him flipping Sanji against the mattress and starting either a physical fight (that would end up in more fooling around) or a campaign to make Sanji do something embarrassing in return, which he generally succeeded at.

He was sucking at Sanji's ribs, leaving a pretty big mark between his lips, and he felt Sanji breathily laughing at him.

"You _were_ jealous, you bastard," he victoriously declared, pushing his head away from him like he'd wave a fly away.

There it went. He'd been too hopeful if he had thought Sanji wouldn't mention it again with how Zoro was viciously marking him. Zoro scowled at him with what he hoped looked like murderous intent.

"_No_."

"Oh, come on, there's no shame in it, I'm a hot piece of ass, _anyone_ would be jealo-"

Zoro tackled him and plastered a pillow against his face for good measure, receiving a painful kick in the side as a response, which ended up with him falling on the floor on his ass and Sanji catapulting the offending pillow straight against his nose.

They continued where they had left it at on the floor. Damn, they were both drunk. Zoro was still having trouble with getting used to that. His head spun around and he certainly wasn't able to think clearly, which he wasn't familiar with.

The thought got confirmed when, at some point, he found himself with Sanji pressed against the bed on his stomach, one of Zoro's arms holding his torso in place with bruising force and the other supporting his own weight on Sanji, his pelvis rutting against Sanji from behind in dragged and lazy movements and Sanji tiredly rotating his hips back against him with his breath muffled by the pillow.

Zoro blinked. What were they doing? Fuck, it felt good.

A heavy weight dropped in his stomach as realization and confusion took over him, something similar to nervousness (what the fuck, he didn't do nervousness) forcing him to press his forehead against Sanji's nape in hopes of calming down, because, fuck, his heart hadn't been doing crazy loops a few seconds ago, but it was now, and he was most certainly second-guessing the whole situation now that his brain had been activated.

What _on Earth_ were they doing?

His arm tightened around Sanji, almost crushing his torso under him, and although he told himself he should stop, his hips pressed harder and more desperately against the blonde, earning him a soft moan that had Zoro moaning against Sanji's hair in return. Fuck. Whatever they were doing now, it had been lazy until Zoro's brain had kicked into action and dropped a bomb in his gut; now it was desperate. For the first time that night, it felt desperate. Sanji was definitely more vocal about it than he had been in ages.

"Zoro?" he groaned, trying to look back at him but not managing to the moment Zoro's hips aggressively snapped forward and took his breath away. The question hung in the air: _what has gotten into you?_

What had gotten into him?

The question wasn't met with an answer, but Sanji wasn't pushing him away. They were both suddenly overwhelmed by the sheer intensity of it and Sanji was probably more than confused, but he wasn't making any moves to stop Zoro's needy outburst.

Zoro groaned, and it almost sounded like a whine. Fuck. He'd been fine all night, but it suddenly didn't seem like this was enough. It _wasn't_ enough.

"Zoro."

Zoro stilled his movements the moment he perceived hesitation in Sanji's tone, almost as if something had slapped him back to his senses. His arm was still forming bruises around Sanji and his hips kept on moving out of their own accord, but the motion was now subdued and restrained; more out of the need to keep the friction going than any real intent of doing so. Sanji had managed to unbury his face a bit, and now his head rested with his cheek planted on the pillow, half of his sweaty face visible for Zoro to see. The thought occurred to him that Sanji consistently burying his face against a pillow couldn't have been good for the stitches above his eye, but he didn't have time to process it much before Sanji was speaking again.

"If… if you want…"

Was Sanji stuttering? He was definitely hesitating, and hesitating _hard_, which was nothing like him. Zoro's hips slowed a bit more.

"If you want we can…"

Sanji gulped his words down and Zoro felt his whole body going weak. What was Sanji trying to-

"Never mind."

The blonde hid his face again and, even when he couldn't see his features, he looked positively mortified. Zoro stopped moving altogether. Something heavy knotted in Zoro's insides, and he suddenly didn't know what to do with himself, nervousness and tension getting a hold of him. What had that been? What was up with _himself_?

He must've been still for too long, because Sanji ended up groaning in frustration and throwing Zoro off him, sitting on his lap for the umpteenth time that night and taking both of them in his hand rather aggressively. He wouldn't meet his eye, but he was definitely into what they were doing, the fact that Zoro was moaning was a proof of it. He found himself staring at Sanji's face, the way his eyebrows scrunched under sweaty blonde bangs, the way he bit his own lip more often than not to muffle any sounds that threatened to escape, the slight crinkling his nose did when overwhelmed by pleasure. Zoro blinked up at him, entranced, as he tried to put together whatever Sanji had been trying to say. He had an idea, but Sanji had clearly thought better of it and was currently beating himself over it if his angry scowl was anything to go by.

Fuck. They'd been having fun.

"You look constipated," he blurted.

Sanji's eye finally lifted to meet his, and he looked visibly offended. Zoro had to grin at that. Small victory for him, then.

"What the hell? What do you think you look like, you goddamn disheveled shitty piece of algae?" Sanji growled. Oh, he was positively outraged.

Zoro let out a bark of laughter and took Sanji by surprise, enough to flip their positions and take the lead, which Sanji only allowed because he was too busy cursing him and being his usual bitchy self. Insults turned to orders faster than what it takes to blink, and Sanji was rather startled to find Zoro looking down at him with a smile.

"You're selfish," he observed, not with resentment. It was a fact and Sanji would have said his tone was laced with fondness if he hadn't known Zoro wasn't capable of fondness for saving his life, thank God. He smiled back at him, though, bad mood visibly placated and challenging spirit back.

"I am."

* * *

Waking up the next day was hell. Zoro wasn't going through a hangover like the first one he'd experienced (he'd never go through that again if he could avoid it) and Sanji wasn't entirely sick either, but they had slept less than two hours by the time Nami came banging on their door, and alcohol had taken a toll on them, no matter how moderate.

Nami barged in like she usually would, and Zoro had the mind to thank whoever there was to thank (probably Sanji) that Sanji avoided sleeping in the same bed as Zoro like the plague. It had made him grumpy in the privacy of his mind when Sanji had scurried to his own mattress kicking Zoros prying hands away, but he was beginning to get used to that firm refusal. Sanji knew what he was doing, even when not entirely sober; they'd never be found out tangled the morning after if Sanji kept a healthy distance like he'd established they would.

They were ordered to get ready and fast, since they were leaving in the afternoon and everything had to be ready and inside the ship by then.

Zoro went back to playing pack mule, the hint of a headache blurring the first hours of his day despite it not being too bad. He still wasn't used to it, though. He thought he would've felt like shit anyway even if he hadn't gotten drunk since he had barely slept, and he took a bit of solace from that.

Sanji looked more like shit than he did, but that wasn't shocking news; Chopper had told him to rest for a reason and they had done anything but rest for hours, so his body was complaining and being a bitch in return.

The moment they had first laid eyes on each other, way after Nami had disappeared since they were too sleepy to even attempt to confront the other before that, an awkward silence had washed the room, leaving them both fidgety and tongue-tied. Whatever had happened the night before hadn't followed their general fooling-around standards, although it hadn't strayed from playing _against_ each other either, which wasn't all that out of character if one didn't take into account the sexual nature of it all, but it was still embarrassing under the light of 'the day after'. Zoro was pretty sure both of them had taken to erase the only weird moment they'd shared from their minds, pretending whatever had gotten into Zoro and whatever Sanji had been about to say had never happened. It had gotten out of hand, but it barely meant they'd have to be more careful from now on, no biggie. They weren't dogs in heat, they were perfectly capable to tone it down a notch and keep everything inside the limits of jerking-off if they tried, and they would.

Sanji had been the first one to break the silence with some rude exchange, but they had fallen back to their antics pretty fast and Zoro felt relieved last night hadn't changed the possibility of acting like civilized unrelated people when not in need of the other's help in the getting-rid-of-stress-or-need-or-tension-or-whatever department. Days like the one they went grocery shopping could still happen, and that brought him relief.

Kevin's mother came to say goodbye and give a heartfelt hug to Sanji. He had attended his son's funeral where someone had told her Sanji was the one who had risked his life to get his body out of the crumbling debris, and the woman hadn't found the right words to thank him enough. She cried when she bid him goodbye, thanking him again and again, but Sanji patted her back and muttered comforting words until she calmed down.

Zoro watched the exchange in silence, smiling to himself.

Aila and Allen came, of course, and they helped as much as they could settling everything inside the Sunny, which looked new and shiny and fully ready to sail. The shipwright's guild had been checking the last details and animatedly chatting with Franky, who had become good friends with them and was taking a few tips and ideas with him after leaving some of his own to them.

Charlie and her grandmother, Eva, were there as well. Charlie was tearing up as she talked to Nami and wished her good luck. They seemed to have gotten along well. If he wasn't wrong, Nami was kind of emotional too. He'd tease her about it later… no, he wouldn't. He'd only get his debts risen again.

Luffy was friends with pretty much everyone and worked the minimum he needed not to be scolded by anyone, basically talking to every single person who came to distract him, most of them grateful arena fighters and former prisoners.

Once everything was ready, there was quite a crowd in the docks waiting for them to leave and wishing them good luck.

"Fucking _finally_," Zoro grumbled the moment Luffy ordered them to go on board. He was fed up with Terevera and he couldn't wait to sail again.

Sanji was shaking hands with Allen and hugging Aila, cooing even, which was an achievement given how weird he'd been about her at first. Luffy bounced towards them, hugging them all together with rubbery and stretchy arms.

"Have fun repairing Terevera!" he grinned. "Make it a good place to live in!"

It sounded like an order.

Aila smiled and Zoro thought her eyes became glossy, but she kept tears in. "We will," she promised. "Good luck to you all," she wished. Oh, her voice was choking a bit. Zoro would've felt moved if he hadn't been made of stone and utter manly detachment.

Sanji hugged her again, like he was compelled to do every time he saw a woman about to cry, and Zoro wrinkled his nose. Fucking idiot. Wait, was Aila smiling knowingly at him _again_?

The rest of the crew gathered around them and took turns to hug them and bid them goodbye. By the end of it, Aila was yet to cry. She was a strong woman. Franky was positively sobbing.

He could feel palpable relieve when he stepped onto the deck's lawn. It felt like home. He heard a few taps a few meters away from him and found Sanji tapping the tip of one of his dress shoes against the grass. It was one of his trademark battle moves, the one he always did right before throwing himself into action, almost like a tic, but it was inoffensive now. He was merely greeting Sunny and getting reacquainted with him, smiling happily as he did so. He did look like shit, but he also seemed genuinely happy.

They all were. They needed to leave.

The ocean was calling them, and the Strawhats were extremely bad at refusing challenges.

**TBC**

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**A/N: **is Zoro falling for Sanji (and by falling I mean plummeting down to hell and past it by miles) or nah?

I'm sorry about any errors there might be, I didn't get the chance to properly review it and I'll be busy soon so I decided to post it now that I have it. I hope you all enjoyed it, thank you for all your reviews and support!

Goodbye Terevera! *waves dramatically at the fading sunset* We'll miss you! (Zoro won't)

I'm sad that I'm letting Aila and Allen go, though, I honestly liked them a lot :( Big round of applause for the twins! You'll be missed (at least by me)


	41. Chapter 41 - After That

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**Chapter 41**

**After That**

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All in all, things were good.

Two islands and quite a considerable amount of weeks since leaving Terevera with heavy baggage on their shoulders (insert figuring out the limits of their agreement or relationship or whatever any sane impartial person would have called it) later, things were still good.

Zoro was almost surprised. He had honestly expected a shitload worth of existential crisis and trouble, but their relationship had ironically been the closest to normal it had been in months. If they obliterated the part were making out had gradually become a thing, now also part of their routine.

The first week could've almost fooled Zoro.

For how weird and intense the night before departure had been, that with them being sleep-deprived and confused the day after and thus not properly processing things nor knowing what to do with them, he would've expected their interactions to resent a bit.

Departure day had been busy enough that they hadn't had time to mull over it, and Zoro's little obsession had let him live for a change, but their first full day in the Sunny, already sailing across the ocean, had woken Zoro up with an uneasy feeling of uncertainty. He didn't do uncertainty often, but he'd be an idiot to try to believe he hadn't been feeling a lot of that recently.

So far, their agreement had only had effects in Terevera, which had been kind of a suspense point. Much like a chapter they could've easily closed behind them after setting sail. Sure, Zoro had gone through a lot of shit, mentally speaking, to come to terms with it, but it had happened in a weird limbo that happened to be called Terevera and almost ended Sanji's life twice. It had been a hell of a ride despite them not having been there for longer than a month, but the effects had been severe and their relationship had propelled in an unknown direction most likely triggered by the extreme conditions it had been put through. The agreement had settled that small hell down satisfactorily, but they had yet to see if it could actually work in real life, and by real life he meant their ordinary life, away from almost-deaths and edgy conditions that made it seem like they _needed_ to rush things before they escaped their hands.

The Strawhats were admittedly prone to getting in trouble _often_ (often being an understatement), so there were hardly any hopes set on maintaining peacefulness and calm for an extended period of time, but the fact remained that that was their go-to background in between all of their adventures. Despite their achievements and the crazy shit they always got themselves into being the pieces of their lives that made it to the newspapers, those were rather small portions of their life, time-wise. For each life-or-death adventure they encountered, intense as they were and exhausted as they left them, they spent about five times more time navigating without any particular event turning their lives upside down.

That was the reality they'd have to cope with, the one Zoro wasn't quite convinced would provide great soil for their deal to extend its effects without trouble. He was familiar with the attitude of fucking it all and going with his gut when in a tight spot, which is exactly what had led to questionable consequences in both The Rock and Terevera, but he was a decent deal more collected and rational when nothing was pushing him that way. So was Sanji in general.

Now they were back in a ship full of noisy and nosy people most of which had a problem with the concept of personal space or privacy, locked in a relatively reduced space where they had few options when it came to putting space between them if things went to shit and they needed a breather. Zoro woke up entirely decided on not pushing boundaries if he could avoid it, realizing the moment his brain engaged that particular topic that it would indeed be difficult, if possible at all. He doubted Sanji would be game for a lot of fooling around; he was certainly more composed than Zoro had proved to be throughout the evolution of the new plane of their relationship, and Zoro was already backpedaling to safer ground, if only to keep the crew from having to deal with their shit, so Sanji would have certainly reached that conclusion way before he had, and way more firmly.

Well, that would certainly help cure his obsession, at least. He should be grateful that external circumstances would put a limit where his dumb ass hadn't been able to despite acknowledging it as the best and wisest course of action.

Both that conclusion and new-found resolution rubbed him the wrong way, initially. He trained on the lawn, not bothering on grabbing water from the kitchen to calm his thirst down because he knew Sanji was already there making breakfast and Zoro was a little less than thrilled to confront him with his sudden bad mood.

It had gone away, though. Breakfast had been so ordinary it had almost shocked him back to reality. He didn't know if he had been expecting Sanji to secretly wink at him when he entered or outright ignore him and sink back in their unhealthy ignoring-anything-has-happened streak, but that's not what he found. Sanji insulted him with the same fervor as always, swooned over the ladies with enthusiasm and kicked Luffy way too many times over stolen food for it not to feel like home. His bad mood disappeared and turned into a weird state of calm cheerfulness and acceptance.

_That_ was alright. Perfect, even.

Funny enough, that's the exact kind of normalcy they had been struggling to get back when everything had gone to shit in The Rock, when they couldn't act like normal adults around what they felt was a very sensitive and dangerous topic; which had initially been a goddamn kiss. They had hardly taken the most responsible path to solve the unbearable tension that had been hovering over them: Zoro had actually been certain they had sent everything further to shit the moment they had agreed to recklessly use each other as a stress-reliever (and yet he took the offer, good job Zoro, you've made a great proper adult haven't you). Despite trying to convince himself otherwise through small moments he thought reminded him of the careless bond they used to have, he had honestly been sure it would only go for the worst from then on; up until breakfast.

That was _normal_. That was exactly like it used to be. Whatever had transpired in Terevera wasn't taking a toll on them; Zoro didn't even feel tense, just disconcerted and maybe still a tiny bit unsure. But the truth remained that they were fine and healthily interacting like they had for years. Zoro didn't know how Terevera could've possibly contributed to that given the amount of indecent stress and mental break-downs they had gone through (if anything it should've made things more difficult, like Zoro had foreseen), but their nakamaship was apparently fixed and sailing along with their ship with more ease than it had for months, so he had to reckon it may have had something to do with it.

Days went by and nothing particularly remarkable happened. Everyone was in high spirits (who wouldn't be, they were finally back home), and Sanji was in a great mood: he went as far as to pick playful fights with him. Zoro had initially been a bit reluctant to take him, slightly wary of how that would turn out given how their fights had taken to ending for the last few weeks. He seemed to forget the part where they weren't locked in a room too small for both of their egos for days on end anymore, and he missed the memo that there wasn't a reason why their nerves were permanently fried anymore either. They were on a very familiar lawn deck, killing time and not actually needing to spare bottled-up tension, so their first match went smoothly. And the second one, and the third one.

Sanji seemed to catch onto the fact that Zoro was doubting hard when he first challenged him, which clearly pissed him off, and Zoro wasn't enough of a fool to not notice Sanji's visible efforts of forcing Zoro back in track with their new and welcomed you-can-chill-the-fuck-out reality. He proved him right, and Zoro lost his reluctance, engaging fights like a madman and making Franky fear for his ship.

It went well.

Their agreement hadn't been brought up for a week, and Zoro thought he maybe had a chance to actually get over whatever he had seemed to cultivate towards Sanji and hopefully not risk messing up further.

It had become an annoying habit of his to stare at the blonde unknowingly, though, more than a little bit entranced. It was annoying. At least he wasn't jumping his bones anymore; he had decidedly been worried about that particular habit he had picked up in Terevera, especially due to what it said about his lack of self-control, which Zoro considered disastrously lame. He stared too much for his own tastes and he was generally displeased with that newfound shitty habit, but it wasn't the worst his obsession could've made him do. Surrounded by the familiarly normalcy of the Sunny, Zoro was no longer on edge and in a much chiller state of mind, so he thought he was faring pretty well despite getting angry as fuck with himself every time his eyes followed Sanji's profile like a goddamn stalker. If Sanji smiled too brightly (generally not at him), Zoro occasionally got a stubborn knot in his stomach he profoundly was at odds with, but nobody had a way to know about that unless they could read the meaning behind each of his excessively deepened frowns, so that was alright as well. It would pass.

Things went on like this until one of their fights crooked a bit.

In all fairness, it had happened several times years before entering the agreement: Zoro would sometimes get a hard on over a specially good spar, which was fucked up in itself, he thought, but it _had_ happened before without many consequences, so he tried to convince himself it wasn't that much of a deal when it happened about a week after departure. He failed miserably at it. It _was_ a big deal, now more than ever. He gritted his teeth when he felt it, forcing Sanji away with an exaggerated and way too aggressive blow of his swords towards him. Sanji did as was expected and jumped back a few meters, breath ragged and heavy with exertion. They'd been having fun and Sanji was in the mood to give it his all that day.

It must've been a particularly catastrophic angle that had suited Sanji's face just right, or his predatory expression, or the raw strength behind the last kick; he wasn't sure which one had triggered it, but Zoro knew with accurate certainty that he was sporting a boner now, and it was all he could do to position his swords in front of him in a sort of nonchalant manner that he hoped would hide the traitorous bastard down there.

In the past, he would end the fight right there and bolt making it seem like he was bored out of his mind and didn't have time for Sanji's shit, but it was different now. That was one of the first signs that told him things weren't _exactly_ like before. Now getting a boner on deck in daylight with Luffy clapping a few meters away as he cheered them on was a bigger deal than it used to be; if only because his rebellious dick couldn't be completely excused with the thrill of the fight anymore after having actually engaged several indecent activities with the blonde bastard standing in front of him, more than once. Whatever excuses he tried to feed himself were watered down by the fact that he didn't only react to fights but also other shenanigans related to the cook, which made it pretty crystal clear that his dick had a thing for Sanji, period.

Those were unsettling thoughts to come to terms with while trying to pretend he was still in the same page as Sanji about their sparring session.

Also, in the past, Sanji had never seemed to read behind the lines, which had been utterly convenient. It had probably never crossed his mind that Zoro could get a hard on in any situation involving the blonde, so he had never cared to look for the reason behind Zoro's occasional weird behavior. That had also changed. The first place Sanji's eyes landed when he caught the mortified vibe Zoro was emanating was his crotch. And, really, Zoro had been expecting a kick or Sanji disappearing and not speaking to him for weeks, more than likely matching his own mortification, but he had honestly not been equipped enough for the smirk that crossed his features. A fucking knowing smirk. When he looked at him in the eye Zoro knew he was more bemused than anything else, that little shit, and he was most certainly trying to keep his mocking laughter at bay, if only to avoid dragging the others' attention towards Zoro's problem.

Zoro had glared at him and stormed off, considering himself excused enough despite Luffy's distant complaints that the fight wasn't over, where the hell are you going Zoro?

"Bathroom is the other way around, marimo!" Sanji had the nerve to yell behind him, and Zoro could _hear_ the shit eating grin in his words.

He'd murder him one day, he swore.

Despite the embarrassment, Zoro had almost sighed in relief by the time he went to sleep. If he had expected some awkward interactions along the rest of the day, the only thing he had gotten was mocking and knowing smirks here and there, and maybe a little more teasing than necessary, but Sanji had taken it in a stride and didn't seem particularly bothered by it. If anything, he looked like he had won a prize, the bastard. And if he had expected things to take a turn for intimacy that night (taking into account unresolved fights like the one they'd had that morning had generally triggered 'contact' once the lights were down back in Terevera), he had been sorely mistaken. Sanji went to sleep like he normally would and Zoro didn't dwell on it too much, nor did he feel an impeding need to jump him, despite the lingering frustration that had him low-key itching for something else. It wasn't awfully bad, though; he was in control of himself and quite at peace with the way things had turned out by the time the sun had set.

At that point he was convinced their agreement had been left buried in Terevera. They had been so incredibly _chill_ it was almost weird to think they had been acting like caged, angsty and desperate animals in heat not a week ago and for longer than a month.

As if to prove he was wrong, though, the universe gifted him with a proverbial fight one fine Friday evening, a week and something after departure. They had been arguing this time, as in properly arguing and basically being severely pissed off at each other for God knows what, and they had fought. It wasn't a play-fight they both had fun with, it was a full on yelling-at-each-other fight. Nothing especially out of order; they used to have these kind of fights over nothing all the time before they had started becoming troublesome.

On a normal basis, they would've fought, broken a few ribs and gotten a bloody nose, gotten scolded by Chopper and gone to sleep. The next day they'd be sore and they'd glare at each other, but that would be about it. They'd go back to their antics in less than 24 hours.

As things were, Zoro had delivered a good enough blow to petulantly consider the fight to be over and had made it to retreat to the galley to steal some booze if only to further spite the cook. Fucking bastard. He couldn't even remember what he had been so angry about, but Sanji had probably deserved it. Turns out Sanji didn't consider the fight to be over at all and had literally kicked his butt into the galley and flying against its opposite wall, banging the door behind him with enough force to almost break it out of its hinges and locking it before Chopper had a chance to try to stop the slaughter. Sanji was positively fuming and Zoro was pretty sure he had a concussion. His head had been the first body part to hit the wall, and Sanji had kicked _hard_. Next thing he knew he was charging and Sanji was counterattacking with vice. Next thing _they_ knew they were stripping each other, aggressively and demanding, mouth on each other and Sanji biting harshly into his skin for good measure, something Zoro was clever enough to recognize as revenge. The bastard was angry. So was Zoro.

It was fast and they ended up exhausted but a whole deal calmer, most definitely harboring less of a murderous intent towards each other.

"You're an asshole," Sanji had proclaimed.

Still angry, it seemed. Not furious at least.

"Takes one to know one," Zoro jabbed back. "What the fuck were we fighting about?"

"Get out of my goddamn kitchen right this fucking instant."

That first exchange set a precedent. It's not like any of them had actively been avoiding making use of their deal, more like they hadn't needed it up until then. They'd been too busy enjoying the feeling of 'home' after a long time of being forced to be away to actually have the need to use each other as a stress can, and they had also been prudent, probably. Zoro had been giving the issue some thought, definitely. He couldn't speak for Sanji, but he was pretty sure the blonde had been careful in his own way. Zoro wondered what would've happened the day he got a boner if they had been back at their room in Terevera, alone, but he couldn't decide on a single plausible outcome. He didn't know up to what extent Sanji watched his own behavior around him, but he chose to believe he paid it some mind at least, although it had never felt forced on any of their parts.

In hindsight, that first week had been awfully tame for their standards. Sure, they'd gotten back the feeling of normalcy and had actually embraced it with ease, but it had given the impression their agreement had never happened. They hadn't been actively forcing it out of the picture at all, they hadn't been brick-heads about it for a change, but they'd been way too happy accepting nothing had changed, when it actually had. They were happy with things going back to their ordinary patterns and that was great, but the deal _had_ happened and it was bound to add to their new normalcy either they wanted it or not, which was the reason why Zoro hadn't been able to shake uncertainty off his body. How would _that_ fit in?

After that evening it simply became part of their routine, nothing more complicated than that. Once they'd broken the ice with what they had somehow expected to happen but weren't exactly sure how it would go, making out after especially vicious fights had become an accepted interaction between them. Sometimes they'd be out in the open when that happened, so they would settle for silently walking away from each other, angry as fuck and not directing as much as a glance at the other. Then night would fall and either the crows' nest or the galley would be witnesses to the pent-up tension they'd been keeping in all day long.

It had been slightly tentative, at first. For obvious reasons. That was them trying to insert their deal into their day-to-day life without fucking it up, so they made use of it with a measure. When they verified none of their interactions was substantially altered by that nor was their nakama bond apparently harmed, their encounters became a bit more careless. It's not like they'd do it often, only mainly when they fought seriously or one of them had an especially bad day. When not engaged in those sporadic activities, Zoro was still surprised to find out they were fine. Their interactions went as normal and Sanji didn't avoid him unless they'd had a particularly raunchy night and he was clearly embarrassed because of it.

As said, it was sporadic, but it served its purpose, and things were still fine.

"You're in a good mood recently," Robin observed one fine morning.

Zoro glared at her in response. He hated her knowing look. As far as he was aware, she didn't know jack shit about what was going on, but she might as well have had with the way she looked at him like she had him all figured out. It creeped him out.

When they reached another island and got themselves in trouble (who's surprised here), Sanji ended up hooking up with a beautiful lady he'd saved twice. She was pretty and friendly, and she had a good sense of humor. Even Zoro had laughed at some of her jokes. He couldn't quite understand how she had decided she liked Sanji when Sanji acted like a moronic love-struck high schooler around her, but he'd be an idiot to believe he wasn't able to be a goddamn Adonis when alone with women, foolish spaghetti dances be damned.

Zoro's good mood went to shit, but it's not like he was justified. They had agreed they were free to do whatever the hell they pleased and Sanji had actually liked the girl _a lot_, and he had looked happy. He hadn't tried to get Zoro's attention in order to make him jealous, not for a second, and Zoro knew Sanji wasn't playing. They spent a few days there and Sanji spent almost every night with her, hanging around and having fun. Zoro could only imagine what they did in closed quarters, but Sanji took the time to go on strolls with her during the day, making her laugh and cooking for her. In her house. Sanji hadn't brought her back to the Sunny, not once, despite Luffy having invited her. At some point Zoro realized Sanji hadn't as much as kissed her in front of him. If they were partying and it looked like they were about to, Sanji would magically lead her away into the crowd, and Zoro would lose sight of the action. He wasn't so self-conceited as to think it was because of him that Sanji was careful with his own movements around a woman (loud flirting and swooning and hand-holding aside), but he had the feeling that may have been the case, and Zoro's pride didn't stomach it well despite the action saying a lot about the amount of respect Sanji was capable of showing him.

He wasn't seeing red, so to speak, but he became grumpy and made poor Nami pay for it when she was trying to keep him entertained, an effort he never got to acknowledge as such because he didn't think she cared that much. More than anything, he didn't think she thought she had a reason to believe Zoro might need entertainment when Sanji was fooling around with someone else, but he might've been wrong on that one, not that he knew. He was oblivious like that sometimes. By the time he was finished throwing his bad mood at her, she'd had enough and had increased his debts by a grant total of a 20%. Well, fuck. Way to go, Zoro.

"I'm not cheering your grumpy ass up ever again," Nami swore. "Ungrateful moron."

Not that his bitter mood had lasted long. By the second night, he had applied the deal's rules to himself and had hooked up with a pretty woman with more ability to stomach loads of beer than class, the kind Zoro liked. She was fun to be around and he'd actually been entertained enough to forget that Sanji sneaking around with a pretty lady had once caused him a permanent frown and the vague reminder of what being sick felt like.

Their deal was fine. He could fool around with Sanji when it came to it, but he could still enjoy the privileges solid ground gifted them with, and that was _fine_.

He had a moment of enlightenment in which he decided he was happy with how things were going. No attachments, allowed fun in harbors and stress-relieving exchanges back in the ship when they needed it. What was there to complain about?

Back in the ship after that island, they spent about another week in rather peaceful coexistence (peaceful meaning full of fights and insults but no angry making out or weird tension between them). The first day had been weird, admittedly, since they were both testing the waters after another part of their deal had been put to test. Once they determined no one had died and they weren't about to go on angsty mode again, things went back to normal, and Zoro felt satisfied.

Sanji started calling Zoro out on his bullshit whenever he found him staring, which he did a lot (and recently he had taken a liking to staring at Sanji's butt, what the fuck), but he did it mainly in order to embarrass him. About two weeks later there was tension floating around them again, and their casual and occasional making out sessions came back, tentatively at first (as always), and without a second thought as they crossed the line of their third encounter since they last stepped on solid ground.

Another precedent was set a few weeks later.

They had reached another island, a jungle type of island. Sanji had discovered there were amazingly pretty residents there, but they had somehow ended up kissing each other behind a tree in a tribal party where Sanji had initially intended to court a beautiful lady with green eyes. Zoro had unusually set eyes (unusually because he didn't tend to show open interest in anyone if someone didn't show interest first and gave Zoro a reason to consider them) on a good-looking female warrior and had actually been planning on making a move as well, so he couldn't quite explain how it had all been flushed down the toilet like that, but he found himself lacking the will to complain. After that night, they hadn't made out anymore during the following days their crew spent in that island, but they had given up on their respective objectives as well, mostly out of respect. Zoro didn't know if towards each other or towards their initial potential partners.

They seemed to be on stride, though. The precedent was set the day they left. Sanji had tragically beaten his ass in a verbal fight and had refused to engage a physical one, which Zoro had been trying to coax him into since he could actually fight those. When it came to words, though, Sanji had the upper hand, and Zoro'd be damned if he knew how to respond once Sanji had literally pulverized his pride to ashes with a victorious smirk that clearly informed him it was Zoro's loss. He'd gotten so angry and had felt so vengeful and outraged that the feeling had driven his actions even hours after the encounter, against his better judgement.

They had already set sail and Sanji was behind in his schedule to cook dinner, so he was in a hurry and a bit stressed. Sanji had been a smart dirty-playing little shit that morning, and Zoro thought two could play that game. Zoro could also be unfair if he so desired to.

Zoro walked into the kitchen with a calm demeanor. Nothing would've been amiss if he hadn't turned around to quietly lock the door behind him.

"Make yourself scarce. I've got shit to do and I have no time to argue with you. No booze until after dinner," Sanji informed him disinterestedly without turning around to face him. He'd been chopping vegetables.

He had clearly not been expecting Zoro bodily spinning him around and pinning his back to the kitchen counter, much less Zoro unbuckling his belt and getting on his knees to take him into his mouth out of nowhere. Sanji was so honestly shocked out of his wits that he was incapable of reacting whatsoever except from curling himself over Zoro and grabbing his geen strands with painful force when the swordsman decided to go for deep throating (or an attempt at that) straight away.

Sanji didn't last long and Zoro had a smirk plastered in his face as he stood up. He hadn't swallowed and the kitchen floor was a mess. It took the blonde a minute or two to get his shit together as he stared at Zoro bewilderedly, out of breath and flushed red. Zoro held his gaze, grinning like a madman. It was when Sanji looked at the floor with mild horror and then disgust that his brain seemed to click into action.

"_Mother fucker_," he growled.

He would've severed his head with a kick alone if his pants hadn't been pooled at his ankles and his dick exposed, they both knew that, so Zoro decided to flee before Sanji had a chance to rectify that.

"I'll fucking _murder_ you!" Sanji howled at him, pulling his pants up in an embarrassed hassle. "Fuck, fuck, now I'll definitely be late with dinne- what the fuck, where _the fuck_ do you think you're going, bastard?! You better _not_ be assuming I'll clean the goddamn floor for-"

Zoro closed the door behind him leaving Sanji to gape at it in such heightened outrage he thought he'd pop a vessel.

When Luffy asked why dinner had been late that night, Sanji had positively been about to either strangle his captain or shove his foot down Zoro's throat, but he settled for yelling bloody hell at every single one of them except for his beautiful ladies out of the blue. Franky made a comment about Sanji having lost his marbles. Franky's ass flew out of the galley and almost into the ocean in record time.

Zoro was still shocked at himself that he had gone as far as giving a blowjob out of the vengeful urge to mess with the cook. He had once thought it put him in a vulnerable enough position as to not want to repeat it again any time soon, but this particular exchange had put things in perspective. This time around, Zoro had felt _powerful_. Sanji hadn't even been able to speak. Zoro had owned him. And Zoro felt darkly satisfied with that knowledge. Who'd won now?

Just that Sanji, predictably, wasn't about to let that pass. _Of course_ it set a precedent, and Zoro should've known better. From then on that also became a thing. Sanji didn't look inclined to offer a blowjob any time soon, despite knowing it would have granted him a stellar victory and a toll on Zoro's sanity, but he went for the next best thing and Zoro's sanity almost paid the price anyway.

He may or may not have been expecting Sanji to jump him in the middle of his training in the crows' nest or something of the kind, but he hadn't ever imagined he'd wake up to long fingers wrapped around him and sliding up and down his length in the middle of the goddamn night in a room full of snoring idiots.

"What the fuck-?"

Sanji planted a suffocating hand against his lips. Zoro couldn't see shit with how dark their quarters were, but he was certain Sanji was evilly smirking down at him.

"Keep your voice down or they'll hear you. Wouldn't that be embarrassing," he whispered. Oh, he was definitely smirking.

Zoro tried to grab at Sanji's moving wrist to get himself free of his touch, but Sanji was persistent and way stronger than Zoro's half-asleep attempts could manage to overpower. He did manage to get his mouth freed, and he grabbed at Sanji's shirt the same moment he managed to stop Sanji's movements down south by squeezing his thighs together and holding Sanji's forearm with insistence.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing!" he hissed. He was furious. And red. God, he was blushing _hard_.

"Payback," Sanji easily answered. "For being a dick."

Sanji's hand went back to moving and Zoro had to stifle a groan. Fuck. A familiar question, one he hadn't asked himself for weeks, came back to him. What _the ever loving fuck_ were they doing?

He gathered the wits to push Sanji away from him, tucking his dick in his pants and dragging a grinning blonde out of the room towards the lawn deck, where he tried to throw him on the grass. Sanji manhandled him down with him without an incredible amount of effort and resumed his job in such a sudden movement that Zoro actually gasped and moaned, embarrassment tinting his features a second later.

"They can still hear you if you're this loud," Sanji reminded him.

Zoro was trying to grab Sanji's wrist again but the blonde batted his hands away and went for a movement that had Zoro seeing stars and surrendering altogether. Fuck, Sanji was serious. No light fooling around here. Zoro was pretty sure Sanji would physically tear a moan out of him if he could do something like that, but he had to make-do with inciting it through other means, and fuck, was he excelling at that.

"Are you nuts?!" Zoro growled at him when he thought he had a second to breathe. Wrong move. Talking led to disclosing his voice, which followed the question with a shameful moan.

Sanji's smirk widened. He looked cruel and unforgiving, as he tended to look like when they fought, but the sight took Zoro's breath away and his stomach dropped like a rock the moment he locked eyes with him.

Sanji was a beast, a tamed beast most of the time, but still a beast. Just like Zoro. Maybe that was the reason why he did let go of himself a bit when he was with the swordsman; because Zoro was the same. Because Zoro could take it, and this was their own brand of fun, aggressive as it may seem.

"I don't know. Are you?"

And Zoro didn't know about Sanji, but he thought he might as well be if the way Sanji's blue reflected the moonlight was the reason why his breath caught and made his chest hurt.

He didn't register one of his hands coming up to get blonde strands out of Sanji's face, revealing a pair of deep blue eyes, both of them stunning and very much healthy and seeing what was in front of them. There was an ugly scar marring one of Sanji's spirals. It made an attempt at marking the contour of his eyelid, but it hadn't ended up doing great harm and it hadn't managed to drown Sanji's own brand of intense blue nor its vitality. Sanji's eye had come out of its own fight victorious and Zoro found himself thanking Sanji's odds every time he caught a glimpse of it. It would've been a shame if he had lost that spark.

If the gesture ended up feeling like a caress, they either didn't properly notice or chose to not comment on it.

Zoro came with a muffled groan that broke into a final hoarse moan and Sanji smirked down at him with an expression Zoro recognized as 'power' and 'dominance'. He had felt it earlier that day when he had taken Sanji by surprise and ruined him for a couple of minutes. Sanji was definitely feeling it now. Zoro didn't mind. He had enough trouble finding his breath and stabilizing his heartbeat to care.

"My win," Sanji announced.

Zoro glared at him. _Hard_.

Sanji let out a brief throaty laugh.

"You started."

Oh, yes, there was that minuscule detail he kept forgetting. Zoro had started it. In fact, it was Zoro who had started it all.

So much for them having settled for a streak of chill days.

* * *

From that day on, their clandestine encounters raised in number and frequency. For as long as they had only been a way to release stress, they'd been quite sporadic; basically because, contrary to popular opinion, they weren't angsty bastards who didn't know how to chill, and they _did_ spend more time chilling and at peace with the world than building up angry tension, which meant they didn't strictly _need_ the contact that often.

Once that little unnerving game had been introduced in their lives it was bound to make their self-control go downhill, though. One thing was _need_, a whole different story was _fun_. Sneaking on each other and attempting to make the other lose it was as good a way as any to achieve that, and it was quickly added to their long list of things to do to get on each other's nerves. Of course, if one of them did something, the other would retaliate in the next 24 hours, so the cycle was hardly breakable without their prides suffering from withdrawal.

They didn't make a habit of surprising each other in closed quarters with other people sharing their same space, asleep or not, in fact, Sanji's first sneaky attack never happened again. The crew wasn't meant to get involved or know about it at all, so they kept it discreet from then on. Sanji had been drinking with Franky during watch that night; Zoro hadn't been able to tell because they hadn't as much as kissed, but it had definitely made the blonde act carelessly, and he was rather mortified the day after, which lead to two days of keeping a healthy distance from Zoro until the swordsman decided it was time to counterattack, which Sanji didn't refuse. He had learnt his own lesson, though, and he never tried something so stupid and careless again.

For his part, Zoro opted to avoid making a move whenever Sanji was cooking under stressing circumstances. If they were both clever enough to determine Sanji's first attack had been moronic and nothing short of reckless and unadvisable, he could understand that messing with the cook when doing something he valued with his life while feeling stressed wasn't exactly fair either. It didn't mean he wouldn't jump him if he was cooking and there was no one in the galley at all, but he'd make sure Sanji wasn't about to break things beforehand because something wasn't going as planned.

With those respectful limits set, things turned a bit wild. Not only did they _not_ know the meaning of chill when it came to playing games affecting their pride, it was also fun and interesting to experiment with. Zoro had taken to giving blowjobs more easily, having lost his initial reluctance once he realized the power he had over Sanji when he went down on his knees. Sanji hadn't as much as mentioned considering doing it yet, nor was Zoro sure he would ever do something like that, but he made-do with other tricks, and the blonde was effective.

When they had engaged that particular game, Zoro had felt worried at first. Worried that they'd be screwing their new-found normalcy again, but things ended up stabilizing and their daily interactions didn't seem to resent a bit.

So things were good.

As good as they could be with both of them pushing limits more often than not, but their deal had fit in their ordinary life and it had proven to bring them much more fun than headaches.

Sanji would occasionally go on strike, avoiding Zoro for one or two days. The first time he did that, Zoro had thought things had finally gone to shit, but then he realized that, whenever Sanji got in that particularly dark and snappy mood, all the males in the ship were victims of his sudden allergy, and Zoro understood what this was about. He was endlessly shocked that Sanji hadn't gone through a personal crisis due to the fact that he was allowing sexual contact with _a man_ on a regular basis; he had actually expected that to be one of the first reasons Sanji withdrew their agreement, but he had never mentioned anything in front of Zoro. Nor had he let him pay for it. If anything about fooling around with a man was bothering him, Sanji kept that shit to himself and marginally went on a man-hate streak in which he'd avoid touching any of his crewmates and would shower his ladies with extra-affection, but he had never acted in a way that pointed at Zoro as the culprit of it all, which was something to be grateful for.

So, whenever Sanji became like this, Zoro would leave him alone. He had learnt to interpret Sanji's variety of refusals (when he didn't feel like it, when he felt like it but was busy and grumpy, when he was pretending just to try Zoro's patience, when he felt like it but was playing hard to get, when he hadn't initially thought about it but was up for some coaxing, when he wasn't having a good day and didn't even want to hear about it, when he thought Zoro was going to get on his nerves and refused as a preventive measure, and so many more), and he could understand when Sanji said '_no_' and wanted him away from his personal space right that instant because he was having a sexuality crisis. It always came preceded by a darkening gloomy mood and questionable accusing glares at his male crew-mates, the permanent twitching of his visible eye, lots of sighing and frustrated hands running through his head, him not taking Zoro on fights and flinching away from contact whenever Zoro so much as walked by him, and it ended up with a firm and simple '_no_' when he sensed Zoro's intentions the moment he started harboring them and way before he'd had a chance to make a move.

Zoro backed down, then. He knew how to respect that. He wouldn't touch Sanji or even look at him the wrong way until Sanji decided he didn't give a fuck as long as he was having fun and came looking for him. Those moods didn't last long, and Zoro had a feeling it was more due to the fact that Sanji didn't let himself mull over it too much in case he'd have an actual crisis because of it. The greenhead thought it would probably be healthier if Sanji confronted his own sexuality head-on instead of breaking his head over it and swiftly dismissing it to deal with another day, but he wasn't game for giving advice. If he ever tried that, Sanji would throw him into the ocean and leave him behind for the sharks to feast on him.

And, despite that, things kept being good. Set aside Sanji's moods and the new source of arguments they had added to their list (since those encounters were sure to cause fights sometimes). It was a new part of their lives they were sharing, thus they were clearly going to argue, but they would've also argued about any new shared hobby they ever found they had, and it wasn't the kind of arguing that threatened their nakamaship, so they were fine with it as well. Things worked. Basics hadn't changed.

Zoro was fine with everything. It was going well, and his life had surely become more interesting.

It's just that, at some point, it stopped feeling like it was enough.

As their private moments increased in both frequency and intensity through the passing weeks, Zoro started needing more. And Sanji wasn't any different. It had been the blonde who had put the last unbreakable limit on fucking, but there were times when even _he_ looked like he wanted to go to hell with it. Times when their fire was so goddamn intense and scalding Sanji started squirming, not knowing what to do with himself, and frustration turned to anger for both of them and an angry hand job or a beast-like rutting session didn't do anything to calm them down.

It had been one of those nights, when the heat was unbearable, when Zoro's hand reached past Sanji's erection and towards his entrance, in need of much more if he ever hoped to breathe again, but the moment his fingers brushed against it in a tentative caress, Sanji literally shouted and jumped in shock, kicking his arm away. He kicked hard and it hurt.

"_No_."

Zoro thought himself capable of whining in frustration, and he wouldn't even be embarrassed at that point. So he whined. And Sanji gave him shit for it for a week.

It was also during one of those nights, one or two weeks after that, when Sanji's own patience snapped. Zoro was clearly angry, not at Sanji but at the limits surrounding them, and the swordsman didn't even know what to do to calm himself down, nor did Sanji, and they were on fire and it _burned_, and Sanji's own restlessness and need had brought him to his knees.

Zoro's breath had caught. He had even gone as far as to nudge Sanji away, not entirely believing the blonde was going to do this out of his own will, but Sanji's stubbornness won the battle and Zoro decided he was fucked.

It wasn't the blowjob in itself; it was tentative and unexperienced and Sanji choked a few times, like Zoro knew he would, but his insistence burned him and the way those blue eyes looked up at him in defiance as he tried to make Zoro squirm had his chest knotted and aching.

He remembered the first night he had ever done the same for Sanji. The way Sanji had been so goddamn quiet and restrained, the way he had barely touched him and kept his hips in place and hid his face, and the memory hurt in all the wrong ways. Now that he was on the receiving end of it he could only think about how respectful Sanji had been. About how much of an effort he must've made in order to make it be a bit more bearable for Zoro's pride. Zoro'd been in that vulnerable position, and now Sanji was putting himself in it and was _clearly_ feeling vulnerable as he may have ever felt. If it wasn't for his stubbornness, Sanji would have never kept on going when he first choked. His steady hands held Zoro's thighs, and Zoro felt them trembling a bit. And God, was it hard to stay put and not go rogue on the blonde.

But Sanji had done it for him plenty of times. He still did it. Zoro was now confident when he went down on him, and he didn't need Sanji to be careful, which they both knew, but Sanji was yet to lose control on him, and it was only _now_ that it hit him; how willing Sanji was not to do things wrong. Not to disrespect him in anyway. For how demanding he tended to be in bed, he never was at all when Zoro was on his knees. And it made something hurt at the back of his throat as he tried to compose himself and not fuck that stunning man's mouth like all of his instincts told him to. He'd be able to take it, but Sanji deserved Zoro making an effort to control his urges and let the blonde walk himself through it with his pride the most possibly untouched.

His hand ended up carded in his hair, firm but not entirely rough despite the need to yank at it. It was something resembling a caress, but Zoro couldn't bring himself to care as looked down at the proud man kneeling before him.

"Sanji…"

Sanji looked up at him, eyes alert at the mention of his name, but Zoro hadn't been trying to say anything specific. If anything, his name had sounded like a small prayer in his lips, but they both pretended they hadn't noticed as they locked eyes and Zoro stared at Sanji with an intense softness that didn't suit him all that much.

When he came, it was with Sanji's name in his lips.

The fire had calmed down a bit.

* * *

After that first one, Sanji didn't offer any more blowjobs for a while. He avoided him for a few days, and Zoro had known it was coming so he wasn't surprised. But that night had left an itching under his skin he couldn't quite scratch, and the lack of contact rubbed him in all the wrong ways, not to mention his staring problem had become worse. It couldn't always be easy, he thought. Despite having normalized it, they were still sailing unknown and dangerous waters, and Sanji had already been stepping out of his comfort zone by a mile and behaving, so it was only foreseeable when he retreated to himself after it became too much.

He came back to him four or five days later. He'd had a shitty day. Zoro helped him cool down by igniting a fire. They were rough and aggressive, but it was fine. That's what relieving stress usually came down to.

It still wasn't enough.

* * *

Once they reached the next island, Sanji predictably disappeared into women's arms and out of Zoro's sight for as long as their stop lasted.

Zoro's mood went to shit again, but he'd been expecting it. He found a woman he liked and settled for spending their stay with her. It helped take his mind off things, but it didn't make the itch go away. He felt uneasy when he realized it hadn't even been enough for his older standards, despite the woman being completely fun and more than a bit enthusiastic, but it had been nowhere near enough.

When they came back to the Sunny and set sail again it took them a few days to resume their activities, but when they did it helped a bit. However, he was always left wishing for more.

* * *

They had reached a small island and had stopped there for two days in order to restock. They'd only be spending one night there, then they'd be gone.

The village they'd stumbled upon was small, but it had a handful of good bars where real and glorious ale was served, just the way Zoro liked it, and he was generally happy and satisfied. He'd brought some of Terevera's star drink in a hip flask, as he had taken to do ever since he had discovered the wonders of a slight (not that slight) buzz without a shitty morning following it. He'd drink his booze and enjoy it, but he had grown a taste for taking a few sips from his flask if he felt that the night was promising or if he needed to get a tiny bit distracted (for example when Sanji ran away with someone).

That night Sanji had indeed ran away with someone; a chef, but not to bed. He was at the inn's kitchen, excitedly learning about new recipes with a smile matching a kid's during Christmas. He was a dork like that.

It was a pretty relaxed night so Zoro didn't actually have an excuse to drink from his flask, but he sipped at it anyway. He wasn't even properly buzzed, but there was a slight warmth in his stomach he was thankful for.

He decided to blame everything that came out of his mouth on that.

"How do men have sex?"

Franky spluttered into his drink, choked and almost died in a coughing fit. Zoro had been lucky Usopp had been looking ahead of them and not at Zoro, else he'd have been sprayed by a tsunami of spit and beer that left the bar's floor in a state of distress.

When he'd calmed down, Franky sent him a bewildered glance. Zoro never talked sex, and he had never been the type to ask questions about it, _and_ Franky didn't earn enough to make it his job to answer, but curiosity took the best out of him and Usopp was rather useless as he gaped at the swordsman, which rendered him incapable of forming words, leaving everything in Franky's hands.

Zoro was downright deadpanning at a spot in front of him, not particularly impressed with their reactions, but Franky caught the nervous twitch of his eyebrow.

"That was random," he cautiously observed.

Zoro shrugged.

"Why would you ask?"

Zoro pointed at a corner, where Franky was met with the sight of two bulky men making out in quite an aggressive way against the wall. He wondered if they were perhaps trying to capture the other's mortal soul through their lips with the way they reminded him of a living vacuum.

"They're hardly discreet," Zoro commented.

"It's not like they're forcing you to _watch_," Usopp reminded him, quickly diverting his gaze to safer surroundings. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"They just got me wondering. Can they simply go to the bathroom, stick it up the ass and be done with it? Is this how it works? Because if it is I was considering reminding them of the possibility. They look starved."

Usopp choked for the second time and Franky stared at him like he'd grown a second head.

"That's crude, bro," he grimaced.

Zoro shrugged again.

"Where's this coming from?"

Perceptive bastard. Franky's voice had morphed from shocked to serious and maybe a tiny bit patronizing. Zoro didn't like it.

"Curiosity. I've never been familiar with the logistics. Can they, or can they not?"

Franky decided to humor him, analyzing eyes following Zoro's reactions.

"Mmm, probably not. I mean, sure, they're supposed to stick it up there, but I do believe there's some sort of preparation before that. And I guess a condom would be a good idea."

"You _guess_?"

Oh, _no_.

That voice had been Nami's. Zoro's nonchalant façade crumbled into a panicked expression when he turned his head to see the redhead standing by Usopp's stool.

"A condom _is_ a good idea, don't even think of skipping it."

No, and a thousand times _no_. No. This wasn't happening.

"I'm not thinking of skipping shit, I was just _asking_!" he growled. Was that pink in his ears? Oh, it was.

"And, no, they don't just stick it up the ass," Nami snapped, waving a hand in front of Zoro's face like he was an idiot. "Do you seriously not know how it works?"

Usopp was staring at her with slight horror. "Are we honestly having _the talk_?"

"Yes."

"I'm not sta-"

"You're _all_ staying," Nami ordered as she yanked Usopp back in his seat and fixed both Zoro and Franky with a glare that promised pain if they so much as thought of leaving.

"We're not doing this," Zoro sentenced.

"Oh, we are. If you go around asking dumb questions it means you don't know shit about it and that's not happening under my watch. You need to be informed."

"Why do _I _need to hear this?" Franky questioned, visibly done with what was to come already. "I've reached a respectable age where I'm pretty sure I _know_ I'm not gonna be switching teams."

"Me neither," Usopp defended.

"Me _neither_, don't look at me like that! I was just _asking_, fucking chill," Zoro growled when all gazes fell on him.

"_You_ may not be switching teams, but what about your children?" Nami pressed, looking at them as if they were all mentally challenged, which she probably thought they were.

"Children?" Zoro hissed with a horrified frown.

"Oh, no, I'm definitely not doing this," Usopp whined. But Nami kept him in place.

"You're all going to listen to me."

"I'm _not _having children, Nami," Zoro felt the need to remind her. Because he definitely didn't want any. Please, _no_.

She ignored him. "If you did have children, would you want your daughter to walk into her first time unwarned about what's to come? Or your son?"

"Nami, this is getting weird."

"No, of course not. I'd have a talk with the boy, answer his questions," Franky sighed, knowing a lost fight when he saw one. "I guess the mother would take care of it if our child was a girl, it'd be weird if I did that."

"Do you want a boy or a girl, Franky?"

Fucking _great_. That was Luffy. He was perched at Franky's back like a monkey, grinning down at him with pure curiosity. Where had he come from?

"I don't know, Luffy, I'm fine with anything," Franky answered, his tired-dad tone having taken control over his voice.

"So you want kids?" Luffy insisted.

"I wouldn't mind, but I'm not particularly-"

"So," Nami cut them. "Say, if you had children, you'd want to have 'the talk' with them. And you would be equipped to have it because you'd know what to warn them of; been there, done that."

"Nami, I'm done with this conversation."

"Zoro, shut up."

"How did we end up talking about this?" Usopp questioned the world.

"What are we talking about?" Luffy demanded, not one to be excluded of a conversation if he could be enough of a pain in the ass to avoid it.

"Sex, Luffy," Nami informed. Both Zoro and Usopp groaned in pain. This conversation was painful. And unnecessary. "Do you know how men do it?"

"Men as in a man with a man?"

Nami nodded.

"They stick it up the ass?" Luffy ventured, titling his head to the side in confusion.

She sighed like a helpless mother would and Zoro felt the need to strangle her. "_That_'s why we need to have this conversation. Is that what you'd tell your child if he turns out to be gay?"

"Uh…"

"_No_," she concluded for them. She didn't want to hear their answers. "Most definitely not. You're going to get your child hurt if you do that."

"Nami-"

"Get. Informed," she punctuated, sounding like the off-voice of a particularly insistent commercial. "It's not rocket science. You haven't experienced it, but you should at least know the basics. If your child comes by and asks what the hell he's supposed to do when he or she starts fooling around with a boy, or a girl or whatever, you're going to have to answer something less idiotic than 'stick it up the ass'. And if he or she doesn't ask, you tell them anyway."

Zoro groaned, again. He hadn't signed up for this. Why hadn't he kept his mouth shut?

"So they don't stick it up the ass?" Luffy tried to clarify.

Oh, God.

"No, Luffy, they do stick it up there. But there's something called preparation. If you just put it in you're going to break the other man apart and I can assure you no long-lasting relationship ever started like that."

Oh, _God_.

"There's need for lube. That makes things easier," Robin explained.

Zoro jumped in his seat, horror filling his insides. Please, not _Robin_. She was going to read into his soul and expose all of his horrific secrets. She was looking at him as he freaked out. Brook was behind her, sipping tea and listening intently.

"Lube?" Luffy inquired.

Why _the fuck_ was Luffy here? Things would've been less painful if he hadn't been throwing questions left and right. At least it would've been faster.

"To make things smoother," Robin nodded. "You'll definitely need it."

Why the ever loving fuck was she looking at him as she said that? For fuck's sake, he wanted to flee. He sent an accusing glare at the couple who had initially raised his question, but they were gone, the bastards. He'd be shit out of luck if he tried to justify to himself that he'd only asked because of them; more like he'd been thinking about it for _a while_ and their sight had caused his curiosity to come out in the form of words.

That's why he rarely talked. He had a way to fuck things up when he did.

His gaze swept the bar nervously, looking for a glimpse of blonde, but Sanji was entertained somewhere else, thank fuck. Chopper was with him, he thought. Thank fuck as well; the kid shouldn't be listening to the verbal diarrhea they were being forced to listen to.

Robin had gone onto the logistics of stretching the entrance and Zoro was dying inside by the second, but he listened despite himself. Why it felt like Nami and Robin were giving _him_ instructions on how to go about it was something he wasn't going to spare a single thought on, but he sure as hell was ready to bolt and never come back when they considered it to be over.

"And try to be quiet. _Please_, try to be quiet. No one wants to hear that," Nami concluded.

_What?_

"Is that also part of sex between men?" Luffy urged, questioning stare in place. "Is it supposed to be silent for it to work?"

Nami glanced at Zoro, then at Luffy. "Yes, Luffy, it's supposed to be _quiet_."

Well, she'd definitely stabbed that last word. Oh, fuck.

"How do you know so much about it?" Usopp asked after a few minutes of mortified silence. It looked like someone had sucked their souls into the void. Nami and Robin looked quite satisfied.

"Because I get informed. I'm not about to let my gay son walk unwarned into sex; he's either going to get broken or break someone and I'm not one to allow that," Nami dismissed.

"How do you even _know_ you'll have a gay son?"

"I don't. But damn if they're not going to listen to _the talk_ when it comes to it, gay or not. They're going to enter adulthood being fully prepared for life."

"You'll be a terrifying mom," Usopp shivered.

"Do you want children, Nami?" Luffy asked yet again.

When were they all going to leave and mind their own business? Zoro felt caged and surrounded by hyenas despite not being the center of attention, but he could hardly leave without anyone yanking him down in his seat.

"If they come, they come."

"Oh, and what about girls, then?" Luffy perked up. Usopp did a weird jolt by Zoro's side, his attention finally caught, and Zoro wanted to hide his face between his hands because his crew was composed by a bunch of idiots and _why the fuck had he ever thought it'd be a good idea to join?_

"Yes, you also need to know about that," Nami agreed. "You may have a lesbian daughter and she'd also have to go through the talk. You need to be prepared."

"Have you ever tried it yourself?" Brook inquired with an excited squeak behind her.

Nami nearly burned his perverted afro to ashes.

"No, I haven't, nor do I feel inclined to, but you never know. How can we be sure someone's not going to turn our world upside down out of the blue?"

She was most definitely looking at Zoro now. Zoro felt dread invading his stomach. Did she know or was she guessing because he had initially asked? Her stare wasn't belligerent, though, it was a brand of soft and serious Zoro had never seen on her. It wasn't even judging, it merely gave the impression she was trying to get a point across.

"So, sex between girls," she resumed, and the moment was gone. "Care to help, Robin?"

"Oh _my God_, why didn't you tell me you were discussing such important topics?"

Shit.

Shitty fucking fuck.

Zoro raised his eye to find Sanji closing the circle with a beer in hand and Chopper on his shoulders. He was finally back from his incursion in the kitchen. And he had honest-to-God hearts sprouting out of his eyes.

Nami kicked him for good measure.

"This is an informative talk, not a perverts' convention, so either behave or leave," she growled at him.

Sanji profusely apologized, but Zoro had the feeling he was simply trying to get her to keep on talking.

"You're an idiot," he muttered, his mood ruined since ages ago.

Sanji's attention was diverted back at him. Better. "What was that, shitty swordsman?!"

"Such a shame you missed the man-loving one. You may want Nami to enlighten you about it afterwards," Robin calmly let out, freezing Zoro's blood in his veins and turning him a tone or two paler.

Sanji blinked at her, confused and then almost grimacing as her words dawned on him.

"Ah… no, thanks dear. I think I'll pass."

Zoro scrunched his nose. Of course he'd pass.

"Whatever you do, use lube. And stretch it first."

Sanji choked on his drink and Zoro's feeling of dread morphed into a small streak of panic.

"Whatever _I_ do?"

"In general, I mean. As in, that's how it works in general. I was telling them about the importance to keep your children informed about this kind of things," Nami clarified, sounding so matter-of-fact one could've almost sworn she didn't have something up her sleeve.

"Ah, yes. I guess so. That's wise of you," he grinned at her, notably more composed.

He didn't seem to register imminent danger and Zoro was tempted to tell him not to let his guard down. Zoro suddenly knew better. Maybe he was just paranoid.

"I'm not going to let my children get hurt over misinformation, rest assured. I think I have that topic covered, though. I had plenty of explicit descriptions during my two years in Momoiro Island."

Franky swore a black cloud formed on top of Sanji's head the moment Momoiro Island was brought up, his shoulders falling and his eyes looking very much like the ones from a man who had come back from war.

"That must've been… intense, bro."

"Don't remind me," he pleaded, voice soulless. Franky couldn't help but wonder what on Earth he'd gone through during those two long years, and he pitied him a bit for it.

"Do you want children, Sanji?"

He seemed to perk up a little at that. The blonde smiled at his captain, shrugging.

"Yes," he didn't even doubt. "Not now, but I'd eventually like a family. Beautiful wife, two or three brats running around my restaurant and pestering the clients."

"Your restaurant?" Luffy repeated, scrunching his eyebrows. "I hope you remember you are my chef at least until I become the king of pirates."

He sounded childish, but oh so earnest. Sanji's smile was fond, and Zoro's heart did a little weird thing.

"I do remember, Luffy, don't worry; I'm not leaving your side. None of us are, I believe." Everyone else grinned around him. "I meant after that. Long after that."

_After that_.

There _was_ an 'after that'. There had always been. Their adventures together as a crew had an expiring date, for one reason or another. Either they never made it and died in the process or they made it and ended up scattering around after ten to twenty years, at most. None of them was foolish enough to believe they'd sail together in the same ship until they were old and grey. Not even Luffy.

This particular adventure was the best thing they had ever treasured in their lives, but their lives were still short. There was much more coming their way. What was going to happen when they fulfilled their dreams? They were dreamers by nature, so more would come. But, as they grew older, Zoro had a feeling their dreams would no longer go on the lines of 'becoming the king of pirates', 'finding the All Blue', or 'becoming the greatest swordsman'. Nami's, Chopper's or Robin's dreams had a longer expire date since they had a lot to do with research and knowledge, but the rest's, especially Luffy's, Zoro's or Sanji's, would be over the moment they fulfilled them; a clean cut between what they had always dreamed of and what came after that.

What would come next?

They'd harbor new dreams because they didn't know how to live without one, but he had a feeling they'd be more delicate and less boisterous as they aged. The kind of dreams reckless youth like them couldn't hope to have yet. Didn't _want_ to have because there was so much to do before settling down.

The kind of dreams a man in his thirties or forties with everything they ever wanted having been achieved would strive for. Opening a restaurant in the All Blue, maybe. Having a family and taking care of them and living a tranquil life by the seaside with them by one's side. That was something hardly compatible with being part of the Pirate King's crew.

Zoro was left staring at Sanji as Nami babbled about the wonders of girls' love-making, Sanji entranced in every detail like the perverted bastard he was. But Zoro didn't see that. What Zoro kept replaying in his head as he lost himself in his particular tone of blue was the softness Sanji's smile had carried with it as he answered Luffy's question.

_Yes. I'd eventually like a family. Beautiful wife, two or three brats running around my restaurant and pestering the clients._

Zoro could actually picture it. Sanji would be a bit of an asshole to his sons and most definitely a pushover when it came to his daughters, but he'd make a great father. And an even greater husband if he could manage to keep his idiotic amounts of love dedicated to one woman only.

_After that_.

There was an 'after that'. For all of them, there'd be an after that. Zoro had no clue what his would be, but he guessed families would be a great 'after that' for at least half of his crew.

* * *

By the time the lecture had finished and they had all scattered around the bar or back at the inn, Nami, Robin and Franky found each other taking a breather in the street under a starless sky.

"I believe you owe me good money," Nami commented, staring up at the blackness above them.

Franky groaned but fished a big stack of bills out of one of his pockets, handing it to Nami. He looked pained at the loss.

"You should know not to place your bets against me," she grinned at him, good-naturedly enough. She would've been fangirling over the money and the victory, but she was feeling a bit uneasy and rather pensive to bother.

"I shouldn't have given you the money. You have no real way to know if they're actually involved or not," Franky regretted.

"Except for the fact that I've _heard_ them? Damn, I swear I didn't need that. And they probably go thinking they are discreet."

"Nobody else has heard them, Nami. Are you sure it doesn't have something to do with the fact that you constantly sneak on them to find evidence that'd make you win the bet?"

"The only sneaky thing I've done is stare at Zoro from behind my newspaper when Zoro's transfixed ogling Sanji like he's seen God while thinking he's being subtle about it," Nami dismissed. "I haven't been sneaking on them. I went to the bathroom like any normal person would and heard them… do stuff. Whatever. But what the heck, did you miss the part where Zoro _asked_ how men had sex?!"

"He may just have been curious," Franky tried to defend, more out of the will to try to get his money back than because he actually believed it.

"Do you still believe in the tooth fairy, Franky?"

"Sorry to interrupt, but you owe me money as well, Nami."

Nami cringed. Franky's attention perked up. "What for?"

"Nami said they'd have already had sex. I said they hadn't. I think Zoro's question is a pretty clear hint that they haven't yet, so I believe I win that bet."

Franky's money landed in Robin's hands with reluctance. Nami looked distressed.

"Do you honestly believe they are involved?" asked the cyborg with a paternal tinge of worry in his voice. He received a nod. Franky sighed. He should've seen it coming, back in Terevera, where it was clearer and more evident. "They're going to mess it up. I'm surprised they haven't yet. What do we do?"

"Nothing," Robin answered, her eyes firm. "It's for them to figure out, we don't have any right to intervene."

"I'm going to buy them a bottle of lube, that's what I'm going to do," Nami groaned in slight distress. "Before those morons decide it's a good idea to try doing it with kitchen oil."

"…"

"…yes, we should probably buy them some lube."

* * *

Dawn was nearing when he was left alone in his bar stool by Usopp's side. They were more than a bit mortified with the after-effects of 'the talk' and Zoro was pretty sure he was doomed if Nami's and Robin's glances his way had been anything to go by, but dawn was quiet and calm, and his body relaxed into it, forgetting about that part for a while. Usopp didn't seem to be in a rush to go either.

"Say, Usopp."

Their snipper looked up from his drink and fixed him with a curious stare. He looked like he had also been deep in thought for a while. They'd been sharing nothing but silence for half an hour now, so they'd both had time to have a chat with their own thoughts, he guessed.

"Mmmh?"

"Do you want children?"

Usopp looked surprised, but not entirely shocked. He smiled, small and warm, and Zoro figured he'd also been mulling over whatever future-related questions had inadvertently transpired that night.

"Yes, I think I do."

Zoro smiled in return, although to Usopp it looked a bit sad. There was an 'after that' for all of them indeed.

"In the ship?"

"Nah, probably back home."

This time the greenhead's smile was knowing.

"With Kaya?"

For all the brothels they had ever gone to along their journey and for all of the times he had crossed his crewmates going or coming back from them, he had never seen Usopp in one. Not once. They'd been away from home for a total of three years, maybe more, now. Zoro had lost count.

Usopp laughed a bit, ears read and expression blue. "If she remembers me by the time I come back."

By the time he came back it would probably be a bit more than ten years since he left, at the very least. Their adventure had an expiry date, but it was yet far away from their grasp unless they dropped dead in the near future.

Zoro thought she would. But he didn't say it out loud. Those were Usopp's hopes and reassurance could only be offered by facts when it came to that, so Zoro's words would be nothing but temporary solace. Instead, he raised his glass for a toast. Usopp grinned and obliged, and they drank.

"You sure you don't want kids?"

"Positive."

"You're not bad at handling them, for what I've seen. And they adore you."

"Still a no."

"Why?"

Usopp sounded genuinely curious. For people like him, who could easily dream of a family and actually looked forward to it as if it was absolutely undoubtable that things would end like this, it was probably hard to picture someone's reasons to pass on that kind of happiness. Zoro thought about Sanji's eyes when he'd talked about it. Earnest and certain in a wistful way.

_Beautiful wife, two or three brats running around my restaurant and pestering the clients._

"I don't like kids."

Usopp barked a laugh and Zoro almost felt offended. "Well, _that_'s a big lie."

"Oh, _you_ are one to talk, you compulsive shitty liar."

Their snipper waved at him dismissingly. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. What about kids? What's wrong with them?"

"They are annoying."

"I can think of a few crew members of ours who are a huge deal more annoying that the vast majority of kids you'll ever encounter, yet you put up with them on a daily basis and are willing to do so for the next decade at least."

"Starting with you."

"That's a big lie as well. Your black list starts with Sanji."

Ah. Wise words, Usopp. Zoro felt his stomach twist at the mention of his name, but Usopp hadn't said it with any further meaning than the one merely expressed by his words, so he technically didn't have anything to worry about. He was just a bit too paranoid.

"He's the biggest asshole in this planet, I swear," he grumbled in an attempt to keep up with tradition.

"And Luffy is probably more difficult to raise and educate than any son of yours could ever be. You'd have an easier time with triplets," Usopp added, ignoring Zoro's beginning of a rant. "So? Why not a family?"

"Because they'd make me weak."

Oh. Here it was.

The truth.

Nothing but the ugly truth.

Usopp's momentarily surprised expression turned into a somber understanding one, and Zoro hated it. There went his mood again. He didn't want to be pitied and he had a feeling Usopp was doing exactly that.

"I can't afford a family. Or kids. They'll just be a weakness and I'm not a fan of collecting those," he elaborated, more firmly this time. It was a sensitive topic, he realized, but he'd never known because he had never been forced to talk about it. Zoro didn't deal well with anything that could potentially be a debility, so he obliterated them from his life. Period. "So, no, no kids. Leave it to someone who knows what to do with them."

There was a glint of something in the snipper's eyes, something Zoro couldn't be bothered to interpret, but he knew a question was going to be fired. It was.

"Have you ever been in love?"

Zoro stared at his hands and then at his half-empty cup between them. Something inside him deflated right after his stomach churned for a split-second, leaving him feeling weirdly exhausted and a bit empty.

"No."

Silence.

"…would you like to?"

"No."

Usopp stared at him with a slightly sad smile.

"Not much of a peaceful and content life awaiting you after all of this is over, eh?"

_After all of this is over._

Zoro smirked. It was meant to come off as sarcastic or scornful, sardonic even, but it came out as bitter and rueful. At least his voice sounded perfectly nonchalant, and it brought him comfort.

"Nah. That's not for me."

He meant it.

**TBC**

* * *

**A/N: **here you have another chapter!

Alternatively titled:

"Nami knows what's up",

"the talk",

"thinking about the future sucks",

"don't bet on your friends' sexual life for God's sake, give them a breather",

"Nami actually cares and Zoro is too dense to see",

"Zoro is dense",

"Usopp and Kaya are a pair of cuties, don't worry Usopp, she'll most likely remember you when you come back",

"little kids scare Zoro",

"Usopp is a good friend. So is Nami",

"get. informed."

"please, get your shit together, Zoro",

"Sanji would indeed be a great dad, I can actually picture his daughter braiding his hair and him not complaining for a second",

"Zoro is _really_ dense", and

"I don't need no love; by Roronoa Zoro".


	42. Chapter 42 - Let Them Wonder

...

* * *

...

**Chapter 42**

**Let Them Wonder**

...

* * *

...

"What the fuck is this?"

"Lube."

"What the fucking fuck for?"

"Weren't you listening last night? One never knows. Say someone in this crew ever needed it. It'd be bad if they approached the situation without something like this in hand, right? Know that we'll keep it in your quarters. You have to be prepared."

"Nami, I'm confused," Usopp proclaimed.

"Prepared for what?" Chopper asked, eyes wide and confused.

"I'm pretty sure I don't need lube," Luffy ventured. "As long as stretching goes-"

"Luffy, shut up, for fuck's sake! No one want's to hear that, what the-"

"Nami, darling, this is a bit confusing. Is this for us?"

"Yes."

"No one's gonna fucking use this shit, witch."

"Are you trying to encourage anal sex?"

"Encourage _what_?!" Chopper shrieked.

"I'm keeping you all safe in case anyone ever feels like trying it during one of those crazy parties we throw left and right. Robin agreed to buy one for emergencies."

"It's also a well-known fact that a lot of sailors indulge this kind of activities when facing long months in the sea by themselves," Robin helpfully informed.

Zoro's eye twitched.

"Enough with this bullshit."

Before Nami had a chance to protest, Zoro snatched the bottle from her and made a dash towards the deck with the redhead screaming bloody hell at him. By the time she managed to get a grasp of his biceps, the bottle had already been thrown out of the ship and into the ocean.

"What did you do that for?!"

Zoro ignored both her shrieking voice and the blossoming bump forming right where Nami's fist had connected with his skull. She'd give him a concussion eventually, he was positive.

"I don't know what kind of shit you think you're pulling, but I'm not keeping that in the goddamn ship. Luffy is going to do something idiotic with it, at the very least," Zoro sentenced with a sneer in a whisper-yell tone. The rest of the crew were already starting to gather around in a general turmoil of confusion. "And Chopper is a kid, what were you thinking?!"

"It wasn't meant for Chopper."

"Yet he had to hear it, now he's traumatized. Hope you're proud of yourself."

"Can you perhaps not act all defensive on me?"

"I'm not acting defensive," Zoro growled.

"Just that you are. Calm your tits, idiot."

Zoro glared at Sanji and found he was being glared at in turn. He could read his tone: it was a warning. He was being obvious, he was telling him, and he should tone it the fuck down. Which would've been easier hadn't he been severely pissed off, something that never matched with his ability to keep his mouth shut.

"What now? You wanted it? Were you planning on using it, brows?"

Sanji's glare darkened so much it was almost literally venomous.

"Quite fucking obviously _not_," he snarled. "But that doesn't mean I'd throw it overboard in a shitty bratty fit. It was her goddamn purchase, show some respect."

Nami looked… surprised. Because of Zoro's careless words rather than Sanji's, he noticed, although he couldn't quite pinpoint why. He couldn't quite pinpoint why Franky hadn't even complained or shown surprise so far either. It had been an itch at the back of his mind for a while now; the cyborg seemed to be pretty cool with the events unfolding, almost as if he had known they would all along. Apparently, there were a lot of things Zoro wasn't getting.

"We could've used it to make the deck slippery and play, Zoro, what a waste," Luffy pouted.

Oh, he wasn't alone, Luffy wasn't getting shit either.

"Told you, witch," he sighed.

His captain received an angry punch for the comment. He wondered how Nami's fist could take the impact so well when their skulls usually screamed in pain every time she threw a fit.

"That's not what that is for!"

"It's not like we would've given it a more proper use, Nami," Usopp sighed, clearly done with the show. "You took _the talk_ quite seriously, now."

"And you should too, I told you," Nami chastised. "Anyway. Robin and I knew this would happen. So we bought another one."

Zoro cringed when a hand sprouted out of nowhere with a brand new bottle of lube in it.

"Try to get rid of it and I'll get rid of your father-to-be career, Zoro."

Well, damn.

"Come on, no one will use this."

"Oh, we can play now!" Luffy cheered.

"No you can't. This is to be used only in sex-related activities. Whichever they are, I don't want to know it nor do I want to hear it, but you're sure as hell going to have safe sex in my ship if you ever feel the need to, is that clear?"

"How is this _your_ ship?"

Sanji was keeping both hands on Chopper's ears, looking more defeated and soulless than ready to complain, and Chopper looked terrified despite Sanji's best efforts to keep his innocence intact. The sight would've been highly amusing if Zoro hadn't been dreading his very existence in Nami's same boat.

"Actually, you were right, I don't want Luffy getting his hands on it. Zoro, you're in charge of putting it somewhere safe. If it comes to my knowledge that you've thrown it away, you'll wish you had died before deciding on doing something as stupid as that."

Zoro caught the bottle as it was thrown at him and stared at it with horror. He made it a point not to catch Sanji's eye, although he knew for sure he was glaring stressed daggers at him.

* * *

…

He'd be lying if he said he hadn't been expecting confrontation when he made his way towards the galley around midnight. He knew Sanji was working on inventory and he _knew_ the blonde was pissed off, but the need to get some booze was stronger than any wish for peacefulness, and he made it his job to hope for an uneventful incursion, even when he was aware that his odds weren't smiling back at him.

Sanji raised his head and stared at him as he entered the galley with decided steps, making his way directly to the pantry. He was rather surprised when Sanji didn't stop him from getting a bottle of cheap liquor, but he knew he had his eyes tracking his every movement, which had him a bit on edge.

He was almost ready to consider his mission a success as he made his way back to the door in order to leave unscathed, when Sanji's voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Sit down for a while."

Zoro frowned at the wooden door, merely two meters away from his reach. He considered leaving Sanji hanging, but the blonde's tone announced a possible storm coming.

A storm he didn't want to have anything to do with, if he was honest.

He had expected Sanji to snap at him regarding the lube episode, but the blonde had started it in a diplomatic way. Confusion turned into understanding as seconds passed by with him standing in front of the door while considering what to do. Sanji being diplomatic could only mean one thing.

Any initial reaction to Sanji's tone evaporated for dread to replace it. Fuck, he shouldn't have come in.

He sighed, schooled himself into his disinterested usual self, turned around and sat right in front of Sanji at the counter, sparing his notes a brief glance before meeting his eye with a bored stare. Better get this over with, as much as he knew he'd dread it. And he'd better not look as affected and gloomy as he was currently feeling, hello self-control.

He opened the bottle in his hands and took a long detached sip.

"What's the occasion? Need some company?"

Nonchalant as ever. Might as well consider it a success.

"I need you to be more discreet and a little bit less of an asshole, that's what I need."

Zoro raised an eyebrow, keeping it casual.

"Excuse me?"

"You didn't have to throw that bottle overboard."

"What? Did you honestly want it that much?" He sounded amused. He wasn't. He had an idea of what was coming his way.

"Absolutely not, you shitty piece of algae. What I'm saying is that you couldn't have been any more obvious. Did you have to get all defensive over it in front of everyone? I could almost see your palms sweating, you need to fucking chill. If you take this kind of things as something personal people will start to think there's an actual reason for it to be personal behind all of your reactions."

Zoro's insides weren't the least bit comfortable with the situation, but he still managed a mocking smirk at the blonde's wary tone. If he hadn't been dreading the conversation half as much, it would've even been funny. Sanji must've almost had a heart-attack when Zoro had gone on an obviousness spree that morning, that was for sure. Going as far as asking him if he wanted to use the discarded lube in front of everyone had probably made Sanji want to kick his head off his shoulders, but Zoro wouldn't have been able to tell wasn't Sanji lecturing him on discretion at the moment. He had always been a better actor. He was seeing it now, though, and the cook's stress brought him a tiny bit of consolation.

"What the hell are you smiling for?"

"I was thinking about what you just said," he shrugged, smirk teasing, as if nothing was amiss, as if they could actually joke about it. "We wouldn't want that, would we?"

"Most definitely _not_," Sanji snarled, tone warning. He certainly wasn't taking it as a joke.

Zoro thought about his next words carefully, balancing the pros and cons of saying them, but he might as well play with all of his cards visible on the table. He would be better off if he didn't mention it as far as his egoistical needs had a saying in it, but it was only fair if he shared it with Sanji. He didn't really want to, though. He knew what would come next. That's where this whole conversation was potentially leading them if he knew Sanji well, which he thought he did, and dropping his next thoughts wasn't going to help his case, but his rational self knew it had to be addressed and talked about.

"Okay, cook, jokes aside. You want me to be chill about it and that's cool, but there seems to be something here you're missing. I don't want to alarm you but I think both Nami and Robin think there is something going on between us. You may have missed the pointed looks or edge in the way they talk about it, but neither last night's little instructive chat or them buying lube for the crew out of nowhere are a coincidence, I'd say."

There. Controversial issue dropped.

Sanji's shoulders tensed and his scowl matched Zoro's in a stressed way that was sure to end up causing him a migraine.

Zoro sighed and braced himself a bit. Here it came. Sanji freaking out and putting an end to their deal. It would only be natural; Zoro didn't see him reacting any other way, not when his ladies were involved. With the show Nami had pulled that morning Sanji was bound to feel cornered or at least wary enough to cut all ties and save himself a future headache. His tone when he had started their conversation a few minutes ago had been enough of a warning.

"Better not give them reasons to think their theory is right, then," Sanji growled after a tense pause. "We could start with you not being the most obvious bastard ever to step on Earth, for examp-"

"_Wait_, you knew it as well?" Zoro interrupted him, his attention drifting away for a moment. He was surprised. Sanji's tone suggested that Zoro's comment hadn't come as a shock, more like he had already suspected that and didn't particularly enjoy having it told to him him out loud.

Which Zoro hadn't predicted. He'd been sure that the moment that kind of idea bloomed in Sanji's brain the blonde would take a step back. If he had already been suspecting it before the swordsman had mentioned it, Zoro couldn't picture how on Earth Sanji hadn't put everything to a stop yet. It simply didn't make sense. Had he truly suspected it beforehand?

"I'm not as much of an idiot as you like to think I am, Zoro."

Sanji sounded more annoyed and resigned than alarmed.

Zoro blinked in utter confusion. "But… you aren't freaking out."

Which he had totally been expecting. Sanji should've been seriously and dramatically freaking out by the time it had become obvious that Nami and Robin had an idea of what may be going on between them. It was a miracle in itself that he hadn't (which Zoro had attributed to the blonde's acting skills more than anything else), but the greenhead had been convinced he would definitely pale and kick him out the moment it was spelt out for him, for it was a decisive trigger in his awareness of their situation.

"It's called having self-control, Zoro," he replied, visibly done with him. "I don't like it and I can assure you I have considered disposing of your body for it to never be found along with any evidence there may be (and I've thought about it long and _hard_), but when it comes to thinking reasonably, they don't actually know anything. The crew has been joking about us being a married couple and needing to get rid of sexual tension by 'fucking already' for ages, if I recall correctly. It's not the first time someone entertains the idea that we may have made out after a particularly steamy fight, but that doesn't mean they _actually_ believe it, for they have no proof of it."

Zoro kept blinking. That's not what he had been expecting this exchange to go like.

"…That's what you like to tell to yourself?"

"I don't need to talk myself into anything, Zoro, last thing I am is a fool who's better off calming himself down with empty words. I wouldn't be half as chill about it if I didn't believe what I'm saying. What part of what I just told you doesn't sound reasonable? At least more reasonable than the whole conspiracy theory you seem to be entertaining."

"Eh-"

"Exactly. Robin, my beautiful flower, has always looked at us as if she was convinced we have an affair, ever since she met us which is _long_ ago, much to my dismay. Yes or no?"

"Uh… yes. She's creepy like that. And Nami has always had a thing for sticking her nose in other people's business and trying to make a sitcom out of it for her own entertainment."

Sanji slapped his head with the back of his notebook for good measure. "Don't talk about her like that."

"That's the truth."

"Whatever. My point is, let's not fool ourselves into thinking our crewmates have _never_ entertained the idea of us being… a thing, or whatever. I'm pretty sure Franky believes we are horny teenagers whose dicks guide our actions, and I can guarantee you his judging stares have been going on for _years_. Not to talk about Brook, that goddamn skeleton openly fangirls and coos at us at any chance he gets. The thing is, it has been going on for _ages_, and it has only become an actual grounded speculation recently. _Which they don't know about_."

"You sound convinced."

"Nami buying lube doesn't mean anything. I know you don't like her much but she is kind enough to actually put some thought in the crew's potential needs; it's not like she's scheming something 24/7, like you seem to believe. We did go through _the talk_ last night, anyway, it isn't all that surprising that she went ahead and did something like that after some of the dumb questions Luffy asked."

Zoro was about to protest, but Sanji cut him.

"I _also_ think she may have gotten an idea and started assuming things, which in hindsight is rather expectable if you take into account how weird we've been acting since we were stuck in The Rock. And, believe me, that pisses me off more than you can even fathom, but the fact remains that she doesn't know anything for real. It doesn't change a thing. There has always been someone wondering, the same way some of us wonder about Franky and Robin's relationship-"

"You also think that?"

"Why the hell do you sound so eager?" Sanji frowned, taken aback by the sudden change of pace in his almost-monologue.

"I thought I was the only one delusional enough to think there was something between them," Zoro explained. A second later, he realized that's probably _not_ where his attention should've drifted to out of Sanji's whole speech, much less if he intended to maintain his tough image of 'I don't give a damn, gossip is for the weak', but he was almost excited to hear he wasn't alone when it came to secretly trying to figure out his nakamas' private business, which he had always made a point to feign he didn't care about in the slightest. If anyone shall judge, they should know there's a big difference between being tough and detached and being an actual robot without normal human curiosity and feelings. Sometimes, Zoro wondered. Like anyone else.

"Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I spoke to Franky once, and he swore over our nakama bond that they didn't have anything going on."

"Do you honestly-?"

"He seemed pretty honest to me. I do believe him."

"Why the hell would you even go and _ask_ him? That's personal!"

"Says the newfound low-key rumormonger of the ship."

"What-"

"Anyway, that wasn't the point, stop your gossip spree, will you."

"I'm not-"

"The point _was_. That it's safe to say that almost all of the crew, if not all of us, has at least speculated about them at some point. That doesn't make it a reality. We can wonder as much as we like, but that doesn't mean a thing. It doesn't change anything. The same goes for us. I'm honestly much less worried about all of them tattling about us having an affair, which they have done for ages because they're gossips like that, than actually finding out it's a thing, which _won't_ happen if we are careful. Insert '_you not making a fool of yourself every time someone so much as looks our way with a weird stare_' here. Come on, it's not like we have never gotten those, so chill. Brush it off, do your thing and, again, chill. Don't give them reasons to ground their suspicions, for fuck's sake. _That_'s the message. I swear to God, if they end up finding out because you can't-"

"Wait, _wait_, hold on a second," Zoro interrupted him with a raised hand in front of his face. He was a bit lost. Had been for a while. This wasn't how he had been expecting this to go _at all_ when he had sat down with the blonde, and Sanji's speedy chatter wasn't helping him process what was going on under all of those unexpected words.

Sanji didn't appreciate his interruption.

"What."

"That's it?"

"What do you mean 'that's it'?"

Zoro stared at Sanji for a few seconds, trying to gather his thoughts with a tinge of anxiety at the back of his chest.

He sighed. Out with it.

"Uhm… you weren't going to tell me the agreement is over?"

Unexpectedly, Sanji tensed. He had been rambling for a while, eyes switching from the ceiling to him to the countertop and back for as long as he'd been trying to get his point across like Sanji usually did when he was annoyed and rather done with the situation at hand, almost as if explaining whatever he was saying was a burden and he wanted to get it over with. But right then, his eyes were solely fixed on Zoro's, his full attention on him. His blue orbs flickered from his open eye to his closed one, searching, just like Zoro's had been.

Zoro was a bit taken aback. Sanji looked suddenly confused, but also wary, and the swordsman didn't quite get it. It would've made sense for Sanji to react like that when he had hinted at Nami and Robin suspecting them; that's where Zoro had thought problems would arise. But not _now_.

It took a long while for Sanji to respond, and he only did so because he wasn't able to find whatever he was looking for in Zoro's stare.

"No, I wasn't… unless you want it to be over?"

Oh.

_Oh._

Contrary to what Zoro had been assuming from the start, that's not where their conversation had been heading. Sanji had clearly not been expecting it to take that turn, that was for certain. But it still didn't make sense that he'd look anxious, much less as he waited for Zoro's answer. He kept his cool stance, elbows against the countertop and body lumped forwards in a disinterested pose, but both the wary tension in his shoulders and the way his eyes shone with uncertainty gave his unease away.

Zoro told himself he had to talk. Sanji was waiting for him to do so and he didn't look all that calm anymore despite his best efforts.

"I… I had kind of assumed you'd want to back down once you realized 'your ladies' might have a clue about what's going on."

Sanji blinked and visibly made an effort to compose himself back to nonchalant. His shoulders were still high-strung.

"Well, I certainly don't want them to find out," he agreed. "Which is why I'm asking you to be discreet and not repeat this morning's episode. But I can hardly do anything against them thinking we are involved. They'd do it anyway if we weren't. They have done so since we had our very first fight and God knows I wasn't thinking of even touching you with a stick back then."

His words were clearly measured, put together cautiously so as to be able to grasp Zoro's reaction to them. The swordsman thought about it for a while, his chest disentangling and his body posture relaxing into an inadvertently hopeful one.

"You mean it's not over?"

"Well, no, unless you want to end it. It's not a goddamn marriage, you can back down, if that's what you're getting at."

Zoro locked eyes with him, relief taking over him.

"No need to. I'm fine where I stand."

Sanji's own inquietude seemed to wash away in the blink of an eye, giving way to a satisfied smirk.

"Good to hear. I still owe you one."

"What are you going on ab-"

Before he had a chance to react Sanji had kicked him in the chest, making him land on his back on the floor. Next thing he knew he was being thrown a notebook in the face, keeping him busy enough to not be able to stop Sanji from hauling himself over the countertop and heavily sitting on his stomach, forcing a sudden huff out of Zoro.

"What are you-"

But Sanji was getting rid of his tie and Zoro lost track of what he was going to say. Sanji grinned down at him, getting his confused attention. Seconds later he had his wrists tied with his tie, the free end of which he secured against the table's leg.

"Are you kidding me right now?" he managed.

He couldn't keep up with Sanji.

He honestly couldn't. One moment he believed he was going to be told to leave him alone for good (more his own fault for assuming things than Sanji's, to be honest), the other Sanji was shocking the hell out of him by reasoning his way into keeping their agreement unscathed. And then, somehow, Sanji was straddling him out of nowhere, which didn't quite match the previous heavy atmosphere.

"Break my tie, Zoro, and I'll break your face. You're warned."

"More like threatened."

"Call it however you want," Sanji conceded, shrugging.

"Seriously now, care to explain what's going on?"

There was that heated predatory stare in his eyes when Sanji looked down at him, and Zoro shivered despite himself. He was pissed off. And confused. And his chest hurt where Sanji had kicked and he was pretty sure the notebook's edge would leave a bump on his forehead. But damn if he wasn't on his way to being aroused.

Damn the blonde and his mood swings and his eyes and his smirk.

"Last night. After the talk. You dragged me to the backdoors and blew me, does it ring a bell?"

There was an angry edge in his voice, but it was mainly predatory. Zoro gulped. He remembered. It had happened at dawn, right after his conversation with Usopp. He had gone out for fresh air and had found Sanji smoking a cigarette. From then on it went downhill.

"It was in the middle of the street, you bastard. You're lucky no one saw us, else you'd be murdered by now and this _would _actually be over. And I had to throw my pants away, that's how much of a mess you made. I liked those pants."

Zoro would've laughed, but he settled for a slight smirk.

He couldn't keep up with Sanji, indeed. But that's exactly what drew him to the blonde. It was nothing but a challenge, trying to step up his game to Sanji's roller-coastery pace. And he loved every second of it despite himself.

"So?"

"So I get to do whatever the hell I want as revenge, and you're going to bid goodbye to your pants as compensation."

Sanji tightened the knot of his tie against his wrists, face dangerously close to Zoro's. He felt his breath brushing against his cheek and his blood rushed south. Before he knew what he was doing, he was thrusting his hips up for friction, but it barely took a second for Sanji's hands to travel from his wrists to his hips, where they pushed them down harshly, pinning him to the ground. Zoro would've retaliated, but Sanji was now sitting on his thighs and the swordsman had nothing to do when the blonde's lower-body strength was put to use over his.

"I said _I _get to do what I want."

Once he was sure Zoro wasn't about to budge and keeping his hips still with his thighs while avoiding friction, Sanji leaned in again, mouth a breath's away from the swordsman's. He smirked down at him.

"Look at you, you can be obedient."

Zoro scoffed and a dark smile settled upon his features. His breath felt heavy, as well as his stomach.

"Aren't you kinky."

"Aren't we both?"

Sanji placed a wet kiss against his neck, right below his jaw, and Zoro sighed, his smile relaxing and his body tingling in anticipation.

"Aren't you concerned they might come in?" he breathed, distractedly but deliberately.

"Mmm… who?"

Zoro directed a teasing smile at him. "Your ladies. What if they saw?"

Sanji frowned at him.

"They're asleep."

"Are they?"

"Why do you look so smug? You're tied down."

"And growing old while waiting for you to ruin my pants. You said something on those lines."

Sanji groaned.

"You can't be submissive for saving your life."

Zoro laughed against Sanji's cheek. "If that's what you were going for, you're out of luck. Tying me down doesn't change a thing."

Sanji pressed down against his crotch and dragged his own up until his hips. By the time Zoro was snapping his hips upwards to meet him, there was already a palpable space between them and Sanji's thighs were back to keeping Zoro's lower half in place, keeping him from drawing out anymore friction.

Zoro groaned out of pure frustration.

"You were saying?"

"Let me rephrase. Being an asshole to me and frustrating the hell out of my dick won't change a thing. You won't hear me begging," Zoro growled a bit more viciously than he had intended.

Sanji laughed at him and bit his chin, making Zoro hiss.

"I wasn't planning on making you beg; you know I don't like that," he sounded soft when he said that, and Zoro knew he was being honest in that gentle way Sanji delivered honesty, which made his heart clench a bit. Then his tone changed to mocking, following Sanji's antics. "I only want to annoy you and this seems to be doing the trick."

Zoro's nerves were automatically fried. He totally fell for the taunt. Next thing he knew he was forcing his hips upwards with all of his strength, but it was a lost battle: there was no way he could pack more force in a hip thrust than Sanji in his thighs. He _could_ break Sanji's tie and get away with earning control but, then again, if he did that the mood would be ruined for weeks; that's how much of a bitter bastard Sanji was.

Plus, he knew Sanji loved that tie.

"Bastard, this is cheating!"

Sanji snickered and deliberately sat on his crotch, but his expression softened when Zoro began squirming left and right with an angry growl, to the point Zoro stopped moving when he met his stare. Hadn't Sanji been made of confidence and a strong façade that suggested he knew what he was doing, it would've looked like he was hesitating, which was enough to make Zoro drop his angry act and hesitate as well, unsure of what was going on inside Sanji's head.

"You know you can say 'no' if you don't want it."

There it went again. Sanji's gentle side. The side that did things to Zoro's chest. He could deal with it when Sanji was being an asshole, or playful, or challenging, or neutral, but it always took him by surprise when the blonde appeared as caring. Which he was. As much as he liked to annoy Zoro and make his life hard and miserable in many ways, he wouldn't actually lay a hand on him or verbally attack him if he thought he was actually hurting him or if he was led to believe Zoro didn't want any of this.

The pressure he had been putting on his hips had lessened, giving Zoro an opening if he needed one.

Zoro blinked. Sanji should know him well enough to know when Zoro was being difficult and merely reveling against a challenge. Any other time, Sanji would've kept teasing him while riling him up even more, but now… had Zoro's words _actually_ made him hesitate? Up until that moment, the idea of their agreement coming to an end had never made its way past their lips, but now that Zoro had mentioned it out loud it seemed to be ringing in the air, heavy over their heads. Had Zoro just led Sanji to believe _he_ may be doubting their deal, if only a bit?

Fuck, Sanji _was_ hesitating, Zoro realized.

Ah, shit, he shouldn't have opened his big mouth.

"You gonna go soft on me now?" he stabbed. "And here I thought you were fun."

_Don't doubt_, he was telling him. _Please don't doubt. _I_ am not doubting_.

Sanji blinked at him with remnants of hesitation in his eyes, and Zoro used the chance to buck up his hips, startling the other.

"Fuck! Bastard!" Sanji growled, going back to keeping him restrained.

This time it actually hurt with the way Sanji's fingers dug into his hips out of pure shock. Zoro grimaced a bit, but he still slipped a smirk.

"You said you wanted to annoy me. At this rate it'll end up going the other way around, blondie."

"You're the worst."

"Thank yourself. You get that out of me."

There was something weird in Sanji's stare when those words escaped Zoro's mouth. Something intense enough to make Zoro forget he'd only said it in a playful and teasing way.

One of Sanji's hands dragged itself from Zoro's hips to his jaw, running across his stomach and chest and making Zoro flinch. His finger's grabbed his face with bruising force, forcing him to lock eyes with the blonde. Not that he would have had a problem if he'd just asked; Zoro's gaze was stuck to Sanji's blue one already.

"Do I, now?"

Zoro thought he was going to kiss him, but his mouth ended up pressed against his pulse. It was a sweet kiss, sweet enough to make Zoro's skin crawl and his body jerk in an attempt to get rid of that kind of contact. Next thing he knew, Sanji was biting his neck, _hard_.

"Fuck," he growled as Sanji lapped at the tiny bits of broken skin. "You didn't need to do that."

Sanji raised his head and stared down at him through half-closed eyelids with a devilish smile, and Zoro's breath caught.

For the second time in his life, the thought struck him that Sanji was _beautiful_. Cruelly beautiful in that way that makes everything inside oneself hurt and oxygen feel heavy inside one's lungs as it escapes them.

Unlike the first time, he wasn't drunk now.

He didn't have time to properly process the thought right after it hit him like a truck, because next thing he knew, Sanji was easing the pressure against his jaw and bringing his hand to the side of his face in something that resembled a caress until his fingers tangled with green strands, not yanking at them but definitely making their presence known, demanding attention.

There was something still intense in his expression, but it also looked like he was studying him. It took a while for Zoro's thoughts to stop being scrambled, but he managed.

"What?" he demanded, taken aback by the scrutiny.

"Mmm?"

Zoro blinked. Sanji was there, but only half-way. He was giving thought to something, the pressure on his hair matching the heaviness in his stare.

"Do I have something on my face?"

It was a cleverer choice of words than blurting how painfully stunning Sanji looked from that angle, certainly. Oh, fuck, what the fuck was wrong with him?

His neck stung where Sanji had bit, and it was bothering him.

Sanji processed the words and smiled a bit, and Zoro had to restrain the urge to bite his own lip. He wanted to kiss him. Fuck.

"I was just thinking it would actually be a shame if this had to end."

Zoro froze.

Sanji patted his face for good measure. "So be a grown-up adult about it and be discrete, yes?"

The greenhead watched as Sanji put some distance between them and worked on Zoro's pants, loosening them so as to retrieve them.

And then it hit him.

"_Oh_."

Sanji stopped his movements, hands resting on Zoro's open fly, as he raised his head again to look at him with questioning eyes.

"Oh?" he demanded.

"I understand now," Zoro chuckled in a dark unbelieving way that had Sanji scowling at him.

"Understand what?"

Zoro smirked and it was as teasing and challenging as it was unforgiving. The kind of smile that announced he was going to say something that would piss Sanji off.

"The reason why you bullshitted your way into not ending this."

"What the fuck are you going on about?"

"You can't do it this way, right? With girls. You'd never treat them like this."

Sanji stared at him, suddenly very still and silent, his expression not betraying his reaction.

"Say, do you mark them like this? Are you this rough with them? Do you yank their hair or bite their body like you bite mine? Do you get a rise out of them as well? Do you make them _fight_? Could they ever present a proper challenge, Sanji?"

There it went. His name. It always did things to Sanji, and Zoro knew it. Sanji's face morphed into a dangerously blank one, his eyes the only sign that he was getting pissed off by the moment. He still said nothing.

Zoro shouldn't have kept pushing. But it had just dawned on him out of nowhere and he was on a roll, so he did.

"They can't right? You have to be gentle. You treat them like fine china, don't you?"

Sanji was developing an actual frown.

"Is it fun?"

Silence.

Zoro smirked wider.

"But I let you do whatever the hell you want. You can be as rough, selfish and demanding as you want with me, and you like that."

Sanji repositioned himself over Zoro's legs, his weight shifting, his jaw clenching.

"What's more, you like it when I'm rough with you. You fucking _love_ it, don't you? Isn't it what this is about? You crave a challenge in bed, which they will never be able to give to you because you won't let them. Turns out I can because you can afford not to give a damn, so you want to keep that going."

What was he saying? What was he doing? He should shut up.

He didn't.

"Am I not convenient, _Sanji_?"

"You are."

Zoro's mouth stopped his rant once Sanji answered where he hadn't expected him to, his tone even and his gaze as heavy and serious as it was pissed off.

"You're not denying it?"

"What would be the use of doing that? We both agreed this was for convenience's sake. I still have to hear a lie coming out of your mouth."

Zoro stared up at him for a few moments and decided to keep on going despite his better judgement to shut his mouth.

"Didn't think you'd like it as much as to push your pride aside when push comes to shove, though. What would your ladies think?"

Why did he want to rile him up that much? Zoro was pushing it and he knew it.

Sanji's hand wrapped around Zoro's length and the swordsman's breath hitched.

"They aren't here to see."

Zoro smiled.

That's exactly why, he thought.

It was probably twisted, but Sanji staying there with him, playing his game, instead of putting up a front for his ladies' sake, brought a deep sense of satisfaction to Zoro. Sanji dismissing his ladies, in a very mild way, to continue doing what he was doing with Zoro felt _exhilarating_ in a way that had Zoro craving for more.

"Having fun down there?"

Sanji was being rough enough for it to be uncomfortable at times, but that's what Zoro had been aiming for. He was proving him he wasn't getting this chance with anyone else. He was keeping him glued to their agreement, giving him reasons to _stay_. His rational self reminded him of the fact that he was currently trying to get rid of his obsession with the blonde and that mind-set didn't help the matters, but Zoro didn't give a fuck. Sanji wasn't bailing for now, and Zoro was more than alright with it, enough not to care about anything else.

Sanji looked at him, lowering his pace a bit to grace him with a predatory smile. Next thing he knew, he was lowering his head and taking Zoro into his mouth, which shocked him enough to jerk his hips up. Sanji had been expecting it and held them down firmly.

"Sanji?" he chocked.

He had assumed Sanji would never do this again. He should probably stop making assumptions, he realized, at least when it came to the blonde. He couldn't predict jack-shit about him recently.

"Fuck."

Fuck, indeed. He was clever enough to know he shouldn't let things escalate any further but, while he'd once had the will to follow that wise path, reason and willingness weren't aligned anymore. If Zoro's selfishness had a saying in this, he wanted to cling onto their deal and make the most out of it while he could. The perspective of it ending a few minutes ago had made him want it even more, he noticed.

So many years of training for that shitty self-restraint. Fuck. Koshiro would be disappointed.

When he finished and came down from his high, he felt Sanji's hand on his face and confusion washed over him. This time it wasn't something _resembling_ a caress; Sanji was legit caressing his cheek. His fingers felt feather-like, oh so careful and worshiping, and Zoro's skin broke in goosebumps. By the time Sanji's fingertips came to rest on his chin in a half-grabbing gesture, gentle as hell, Zoro's eye flew open in shock at the foreign sensation.

He was about to question him, but Sanji's lips connected with his and words flew out of his head. It wasn't needy or lustful like their kisses usually were. It was soft and sweet in such a sensual way it had Zoro's toes curling again. Sanji dragged his lips over Zoro's, slowly and deliberately, pecking every now and then, capturing his lower lip between his with a wet sound or letting his tongue dart a bit to lick his upper lip, making everything inside Zoro's body disconnect for good. He ended with a soft peck and Zoro stared up at him bewilderedly, his breath nowhere to be found and his heart hammering in his chest, his face hot. Sanji was smiling.

"What _the fuck_ was that?"

There was a teasing glint in Sanji's eyes.

"You seemed… curious about what I do to my ladies. I just gave you a hint of what it is like, since you wanted to know so badly."

Sanji was playing with him. Again. Fuck. _Fuck_. His heart was doing fucked up things and Sanji didn't even seem fazed. What had that been? Fuck, it hurt.

He couldn't formulate a proper sentence until Sanji got to his feet and started collecting discarded clothes that had ended up flying away.

"Don't do that again. _Fuck_," he growled for good measure, his tone coming out as severely pissed off.

Sanji laughed a light laugh that had Zoro's stomach dropping at how good-natured it sounded.

"Why? Made your heart flutter, Marimo?"

_Yes, you did. You fucking did, you asshole. Fuck._

Sanji had only been joking, teasing. But Zoro was _so_ fucked. He found himself wishing Sanji would never go gentle for real on him. He didn't know what his body would do if he ever did that. That had been… fuck. It needed to _not_ happen ever again or Zoro would lose his shit.

_What the hell._

"Shut your trap- _wait,_ what are you doing with my pants?!"

"Some people like to call it vendetta," Sanji grinned as he cut right through the fabric with a pair of scissors like it was no one's business.

"_What the fuck_, you're ruining them!"

"I kinda told you I would," Sanji shrugged, throwing what was left of them at him.

What was left of them wasn't of any use anymore.

"Are you telling me I have to go back to our room in my boxers?" Zoro gapped, outraged enough to not even feel the anger.

Sanji grinned wider.

"Vendetta," he repeated.

"You're an asshole."

Sanji sat down facing the counter and continued working on inventory, a knowing and satisfied smirk shining in his face. "A proud one. Come on, get the hell out of here, I need to work."

"How the fuck am I supposed to explain this?!"

"You can say I ruined your pants as revenge, it's not like it hasn't happened before and it's the truth. They won't even question it further. I have done worse to you."

"How the hell are you so chill about this?!"

"We already discussed that, moss head."

Zoro groaned, massaging his scalp in frustration.

"Why are you so difficult?"

"For someone with moss for brains you sure make things complicated."

"Says you!"

"On the contrary, I made them easy. It's you who jumped into conclusions. Stop making a fuss out of everything out of fear of being found out, it's not like you." Sanji turned around on his seat to face him with a stern look. "If you act like everything's normal, nobody will believe otherwise, got that?"

Zoro scowled at him, not particularly fond of being told off. In his modest opinion, Zoro wasn't making that much of a fuss, if anything, Sanji should be a little more concerned about the whole thing. Truth be told, though, it was equally as possible that Sanji was pretending everything was absolutely cool in favour of remaining calm for the both of them in an attempt at discretion when it was difficult to maintain, given their comrades' suspicions.

Zoro sighed, standing up and sparing a sad look at his pants. They had been comfortable.

"You have the right to freak out, you know," he commented as casually as he could.

"I know. But I don't want to. It's useless," Sanji grumbled as he went back to work.

The swordsman walked towards him and leaned against the countertop with his arms crossed in front of his chest and his pants held in one hand, studying the blonde's face.

"Are you seriously not the least bit freaked out?"

Sanji stopped writing and glared at him, which made an unconscious smirk grace Zoro's features. It was rather unavoidable: whenever he saw signs of having managed to annoy the blonde, whatever may be the reason, he felt a tiny bit victorious, no matter how serious the situation.

"In all honesty, you throwing that bottle out of the ship felt like a choir of angels descending on me while singing gospel."

Zoro scoffed and snickered, his shoulders shaking. "Beware, he can feel."

"But it was still a bad move. Learn how to put up with it and it will pass faster than if you feed them with this kind of reactions. And don't drag me down with your stupidity."

"You _really_ want to keep this deal up," Zoro teased, profoundly satisfied. Probably more than he should've been.

"Continue giving me that attitude and it will be over faster than you blink."

"You don't really mean that."

"Oh, I _totally_ do. Now fuck off."

"I've been meaning to ask. How the hell do you not care that I am a man? I would've thought you'd have more problems with it."

Oh, well, Zoro was a chatterbox today, wasn't he? He mentally cursed himself after he processed what he had just blurted. Couldn't he leave this conversation alone and go back to his quarters? Did he have to push all of Sanji's buttons for him to be satisfied?

"Why does it sound like you keep looking for excuses for this to end?"

Zoro tensed the moment Sanji replied. The blonde's stare was both hard and judging as it was demanding. His patience was wearing thin and his tone had just suggested he wasn't about to put up with any more of Zoro's questions. Something churned in his stomach.

When he didn't answer, Sanji scowled at him and it felt a bit cold. "If you do want to end this do it yourself, don't shove that on me."

"That's not-"

Zoro cut himself, taking a second to process what he was going to say, which he hadn't been making a habit of that night.

If he allowed himself the time to look at the ugly truth in the face, he could find the answer. One he didn't like. It's not that he was looking for excuses for this to end. No, it was more selfish than that. It's not only that he wanted to annoy the hell out of Sanji, which was equally as true, but the fact that he was testing him. For each objection he put forward that could be a real issue to the blonde, Sanji had been dismissing them so far. And every time he did, Zoro felt a little bit lighter, a little bit more in control, despite knowing that control was slipping through his fingers as days went by. When Sanji made some kind of reasoning in favour of their deal, Zoro felt reassured, and he was craving that kind of reassurance more than he'd like to admit. As much as they had managed to stabilize their new kind of relationship, they were still walking on thin ice. For someone who never doubted, Zoro found himself doubting a lot. Having Sanji wave some of those doubts away helped him feel a bit more solid on shifting ground.

It wasn't only him, though, he realized. Sanji was sure as hell going out of his way to defend their agreement's stability despite not having the need to. The fact that he wasn't showing it didn't mean he wasn't worried. Probably. And he was acting quite restlessly and warily every time Zoro implied Sanji may want it to be over, which made it easy to assume that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't all that fond of that idea either. Maybe he also needed reassurance.

"That's not what I meant," Zoro ended up muttering, a bit lost by his own thoughts.

"Then why the hell would you bring that up?"

"Because you have yet to cause a scene about you not being gay or being manly as hell or whatever. By all accounts, that's the least I was expecting in the long run, especially with Nami and Robin breathing down our necks. At this stage, I had assumed you would've already chickened out and run to women's arms."

Sanji scrunched his nose.

"Can we not do this?"

Zoro huffed. "Yeah, yeah, excuse me for giving thought to perfectly reasonable issues."

"You don't need to do that, marimo, that's for me to handle," Sanji growled in an annoyed tone.

Zoro glared at him for good measure as he recalled all of the times Sanji had avoided him like the plague or had hit a brothel like his life depended on it ever since their deal had started, if only for one or two days (sometimes a week), the reason behind the droughts clear as day. He looked like he didn't give a damn now, but he sure as hell had been having some existential crisis all along.

The thought occurred to him that it was somewhat weird that it was precisely Zoro who was voicing all of his concerns out loud while Sanji kept everything in. None of them were prone to expose their problems to the world but, on a normal basis, it would usually go the other way around.

This, however, didn't have anything to do with Zoro being a slightly bit more than a little obsessed. Zoro was acting like any normal person in that kind of situation would act, for a change. He trusted Sanji enough to address things when they needed to be addressed (he had learnt the perks of doing that as opposed to pretend nothing wrong was going on when it was after the various failures they had gone through ever since The Rock had happened and they had dealt with the situation rather poorly). It was Sanji who held back, and Zoro was doubting it was healthy, but he could hardly rip his concerns out of his brain for him to analyze if Sanji didn't talk about them.

He could nudge, though. Behind his selfish desire to be reassured, he also wanted to lend Sanji a shoulder if he needed one.

"You don't really have to handle it alone."

"I'm not gay."

"I'm pretty sure that what we are doing qualifies as gay, cook."

"I don't like men."

"I am a man."

"Wrong. You're a goddamn piece of moss. Would you quit that already? If I needed a psychologist I would hire one."

Zoro rolled his eye, recognizing a lost battle when he saw one. "Do what you want. So you're not bailing on me?"

"I already told you I'm not. This agreement is pretty beneficial; I'm not letting it go to waste. Plus, Nami says it'll be a month until we reach land again."

"Oh, I'm hurt. I feel used now," Zoro mockingly declared.

"It's not like you're not using me as well. Are you done with that questioning game of yours? I do have work to do and unless you're offering a blowjob I'm not willing to make more time for you."

"We could arrange that," Zoro smirked, his predatory self tingling inside.

Sanji scowled at him. "No. I was kidding. I'm tired. Go to bed, you horny piece of algae."

"It's you who attacked me tonight."

"Revenge calls for drastic measures sometimes."

"About that," Zoro caught Sanji's attention and lifted his arms in the air, near Sanji's face, for him to see the angry marks surrounding his wrists. They would bruise for sure. They already were. "I may be able to explain my sudden urge to become an exhibitionist, but how am I supposed to explain those?"

Sanji deadpanned at the marks, his brows furrowing comically. "Hide them. Use your brain. But leave already, you're giving me a headache."

Zoro gave him a dirty look and turned to leave, but was stopped by Sanji's voice yet again.

"You may also want to take care of the spot on your neck."

Zoro's hand flew to where he knew Sanji had bit, and the contact made it sting. "Fuck."

"You gave me a worse one back in Terevera. Consider yourself lucky."

"Yeah, thanks bastard, you're such a gentleman," Zoro growled back.

"You like it."

Was Sanji flirting? No way.

"Fuck off, cook."

His hand was already on the doorknob.

"Zoro."

The swordsman groaned and turned around, glowering daggers at the blonde.

"What now."

Sanji was wearing an expression that was both guarded and cheeky. Almost as if he was considering saying something either embarrassing or annoying while trying to decide if it was a good idea or not to do so.

"What," Zoro insisted, shifting his weight.

There was a quiet moment before Sanji drew a lazy smirk and pushed the words out of his mouth, his head resting on his hand.

"Out of curiosity… where did you end up hiding the lube?"

Zoro's heart shot up to his throat at the same time his stomach twisted, his eye suddenly blinking frantically in bewilderment. The fact that he hadn't choked was nothing short of a miracle.

"What?"

"Was the question difficult, moss for brains?"

Sanji seemed rather amused with his reaction, and Zoro hated him a bit for it. Where was Sanji getting at? Before he could give it further thought, he blurted out the answer.

"Crow's nest. Behind a pile of training tools nobody ever moves. Why?"

"Simple curiosity. I was wondering if you had thrown it away or not. You sure looked like you wanted to," Sanji smiled at him.

"Nami's threats are not to be taken lightly."

Sanji laughed at that and Zoro's frantic gaze fell on the crinkles on his nose, looking for something to place his attention on.

"Planning on using it, blondie?"

He formulated it as a joke. The most hilarious joke. But he wasn't enough of a fool to pretend a hidden part of himself didn't want Sanji to answer yes. Fuck.

"Absolutely not," Sanji dismissed with a fading smirk. If Zoro hadn't been distracted by his own train of thought, he might have noticed it faltering for a second.

He didn't.

He tried not to feel disappointed, but the familiar thought that this, whatever _this_ consisted of, that they shared wasn't enough hit him. He was always left wanting more. Shit, Sanji had just given him a blowjob which was remarkable and unusual enough to have him feeling dazed, which he was, but he still craved more contact. He still wanted to be allowed more.

But here was Sanji, smiling at him while putting up limits around him. And not only in the physical sense of the word. It wasn't unfair at all, it was part of what consensus meant, but Zoro still felt like it was. Not because Sanji was saying no or because he was closing off when Zoro tried to give him an opening to expose his concerns, but because of Sanji's permanent nonchalant façade, because Zoro liked to be in control but he lost it more than he'd like around Sanji even when it was him messing up the blonde, because of his smile, because of that crinkle on his nose when he laughed, and because of the impossible ocean in his eyes.

"Then stop asking dumb shit."

He hadn't meant to sound harsh, but he did. He turned around a bit more brusquely than technically needed and opened the door in order to leave once and for all, and fast.

The outside air hit him in the face like a cold slap. It was raining. Hard. Enough to drown any other sounds around them. Fuck. It had been a clear night before. Goddamn New World. He'd get soaked on his way to their quarters. And he was still in his boxers.

"Do you want to?"

Zoro blinked and stopped himself right before driving his whole body out of covert and into the pouring rain. His heart halted for a second before it started beating again, its sound louder than the noise outside in his ears. He couldn't be sure because the downpour had made the words muffled and unclear, but had Sanji just…?

"What?"

He felt heavy rain drops hit the right side of his body as the wind pushed them through his provisional shelter. Sanji was staring at him and Zoro realized he couldn't read him at all despite his best efforts.

"Nothing. Good night, Zoro."

He watched as Sanji turned to his notebook, his body tense and his eyes way too fixed on what he was writing, the invading wind messing up his hair and forcing him to keep a hand flat against the pages for them not to start shivering under him.

Something heavy settled in Zoro's stomach.

"Good night, cook."

He left before he did something stupid, and he didn't look back.

He _really_ couldn't keep up with Sanji.

* * *

Sanji was left alone in the galley, feeling uncomfortably cold now that the wind had swiped the room. Once the door had closed behind the swordsman and he had let a few preventive seconds pass, he dropped his head in his hands.

"Shit."

What the hell was he doing? What on Earth did he _think_ he was doing?

It was a miracle that Zoro had bought his 'I'm chill' bullshit. He wasn't calm. He was lucky he knew how to build up a convincing mask.

He knew Nami and Robin suspected them, and he was pretty sure it'd be safe to include Franky on that list as well. He had freaked out, of course he had. He'd been aware of their stares for a long time. After hearing the whole 'talk' and reading between the lines he'd been on edge, yet Zoro had attacked him at the backdoors of the club and he had managed to keep his mind busy enough to postpone addressing the issue, pretending it wasn't there. When Nami had appeared with the bottle of lube in her hand and a harmless explanation that morning, Sanji's first reaction had been wanting to bail. Hadn't they been surrounded he would've ended everything right there and then. But Zoro had to go, make a goddamn show out of it and act like he was being personally attacked (which wasn't all that out of place since he always reacted like that with whatever Nami proposed, but it still drove Sanji up the wall), and Sanji had panicked. He'd been pretty civil and nonchalant about it, but the episode left him with a migraine and the need to get everything under control.

It took him a while to calm down as he went on with his cooking duties, but by the time he did he found himself looking for excuses to hide their deal rather than reasons to end it.

He had decided he needed to talk to Zoro about discretion if he wanted this to work at all. He intended to be civilized and assertive about it when he had told Zoro to sit down. It had been going well; he hadn't looked particularly pathetic nor had he messed up his wording despite feeling a bit frantic inside and maybe rambling too much about why it wasn't that big of a deal if others suspected them.

Then Zoro had to go and ask him if he wanted the deal to be over. He had barely kept his wits together as dread had invaded his functioning brain cells while he looked for a way out. If not trying to keep it intact, what had he been doing? Did Zoro _want_ it to be over? Why did it feel so uncomfortable, thinking about that possibility?

Attacking Zoro out of nowhere had been his way of releasing the pent-up stress once he had confirmed the swordsman was still in the same page as him. It had been his way to mask his sudden anxiousness by distracting the swordsman with something else. He knew how to do challenging and playful, so he went with it and tried to bury everything else down.

But then Zoro had to go and state the truth for him to hear. The bastard had enjoyed carving him until everything was clear as day between them.

Sanji found something in Zoro that he couldn't have when with women, he'd said.

It was true.

Sanji was using him for his own convenience.

It was true.

But as much as it was partly a relief to have someone else lay down a logical explanation for his out-of-character behavior when trying to keep their agreement afloat despite everything he should've weighted for it to be broken, it also had rubbed him in all the wrong ways.

"_Am I not convenient, Sanji?"_

"_You are."_

There went his mask. Back up and solid like it should be. Nothing about what Zoro had said felt right, not because it wasn't true, but because the underlying message was that Zoro was a tool. And that's exactly what they were supposed to be to each other according to what they had agreed on, but it still bugged him and it still pissed him off enough to go down on the swordsman without a second thought, hoping to keep his mind busy enough to forget about those uncomfortable twists in his stomach and trying to keep his face out of sight in case his mask cracked.

He honestly did not know what the hell had possessed him to end the way he had, kissing Zoro like he was something precious, but hell if he wasn't regretting it now. He had been trying to mess with him as revenge, he recalled; that had been a decently present thought at the back of his mind when his lips had connected with Zoro's. Get a rise out of him, make him embarrassed, piss him off like he has pissed you off before, that's what he'd been thinking. But the vengeful prank wasn't meant to last that long. He wasn't meant to get carried away and continue showering Zoro with the kind of affection he would shower a delicate woman with. There'd been a moment when Zoro had started to respond and that had shocked him enough to give him a quick peck as a solid full stop and get the fuck away from him with a few half-assed jokes. Zoro wasn't supposed to start responding. He was supposed to kick his ass for pulling that one on him.

Sanji couldn't be blamed if he had panicked a bit. At least he hadn't let it show.

_Then_ Zoro had to go on about the whole 'Sanji having a problem with Zoro being a man' bullshit and Sanji had been ready to break things because he didn't want to have that conversation with Zoro at all: he'd been dealing with it on his own as well as he could when those kind of thoughts arose, and he wasn't about to shove his own personal problems on anyone despite it being hard to handle at times.

Sanji was being reserved for a reason. Zoro had been frank and open about the whole thing, which was probably the best approach, and Sanji was mouthy enough to behave that exact same way, but he wasn't allowing himself to despite being the one bound to have more issues with the whole ordeal. That's precisely why he kept it to himself. It was exactly because he was the one fuller of shit among both of them that he was running the extra mile to normalize the situation and not let anything transpire. He wouldn't let Zoro pay the price of Sanji's own doubts while the blonde kept contradicting himself and wanting to continue it despite it all. Sure there were days when those issues arose and Sanji took a major step back, and Zoro sure noticed and was affected by it, but he wasn't planning on making Zoro's head boil by including him in his inner turmoil; he wasn't that selfish.

Furthermore, someone needed to be composed and Zoro's composure cracked more often than it should for it to be reliable and serve as a stable ground for whatever they had going on. Sanji wasn't any better at all, but he was better at pretending at least, so he took it upon himself to be the calm one who appeared to be in control.

He wasn't.

"Fuck."

Why had he asked that in the end? He could've let Zoro go. He didn't _need_ to know where the goddamn lube was, nor did he need to ask what Zoro wanted if Sanji wasn't intending to take that into account, but he had asked. For a moment, distressingly not the first one, he had considered it. What if there was more to it? What if they did more? But the urge had fleeted as fast as it had messed his wording up, defensiveness and the will to disappear taking over him. For a second there, he had gone back to considering breaking the deal seriously enough to do it, but he'd kept his mouth shut like he should do _all the time_.

That's exactly why he kept to himself.

He had said something stupid and regretted it a second afterwards. He was pretty sure Zoro hadn't actually heard properly, but what if he had? What if he had answered and told him he did want to? Sanji would've immediately said no. What if he had said he wanted to forget their agreement? Sanji didn't know how Zoro would react, but that wasn't as much of a problem as what Sanji's own attitude would've been the day after or a week later when he realized he wanted it to be upheld. Zoro didn't deserve that switching feast. And so he didn't include him in.

Sanji's issues were for him to handle.

It wasn't always like this; there were quite a lot of days when he didn't actually think of any of that, days when he _was_ chill. Days when he went along with his and Zoro's games without it being an issue at all. That was most of the time. But when he _did_ think about it, it was messy, and he had blurted too much tonight for him to believe he'd be getting any sleep any time soon.

The downpour outside of the galley was filling the room with a relaxing steady background noise that slowly started to dull his senses, leaving him to stare at the wall in front of him with his head between his hands, his inventory forgotten despite it being an urgent task.

There was a point where thoughts started becoming muddled and incoherent, where he couldn't quite process anything properly and everything that ran through his mind became confusing.

He let out a tired and quiet laugh no one but him and the galley's walls could hear.

"Fuck. I'm a mess."

**TBC**

* * *

**A/N: **hi there! First of all, thank you so much for all of your comments and support! It always makes my day!

Some of you commented on how you'd like to see what's going through Sanji's head for a change since recently it's been about Zoro's eternal suffering: there's finally a hint of what our favourite chef is feeling through this ordeal! Not as nonchalant and composed as you'd think with the way he's been acting, is he?

Anyway, there's some needed important talk here and a lot of Sanji keeping things to himself while subtly trying to keep this ship afloat and also a bit of Zoro being as oblivious as he is sharp depending on the issue at hand.

Alternative titles:

"Zosan is Nami's ship and she'll sure as hell make sure it sails safely, _yes_ Usopp, it's _her_ ship."

"RIP Zoro's pants"

"Sanji is a mess and so is Zoro"

"Would you kindly make up your mind, Sanji?"

"Zoro has a sharp moment and is a little shit about it"

"#protectChopper2k16"

"Beware, Zoro does gossip"

"The Strawhats might as well be starring in a sitcom"

"The Strawhats are hopeless gossips, period"

"No, Luffy, that's not what you use lube for, keep that bottle away from him"


	43. Chapter 43 - No

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* * *

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**Chapter 43**

**No**

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* * *

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"Can you be honest on this one?"

Sanji sent a warning glare towards Franky from the top of his glass. He knew he wasn't going to like the question already. He never tended to when a topic started that way, much less when it came out of Franky's mouth in _that_ tone, even _less_ when the cyborg had a beer in his hand and way too many in his body and he had his dad mode switched on.

That's what their whole night had been leading them to. They had all been drinking in a pub and were far too intoxicated to know the meaning of filtering thoughts anymore, and that was the perfect occasion for stupid exchanges to happen if there existed one.

Sanji was alone with Franky near the counter. They had been talking about deep and profound things like old men would do, drunk-discussing the meaning of life and about what was to come, and Franky might've even gotten a bit sentimental once or twice. It was bound to end up with tough-to-answer questions, and one was coming his way. He didn't answer; what was the point? Instead he waited for the cyborg to say whatever he had to. It was sure to be stupid and probably not Franky's business, but he was going to give him a chance.

"What is Zoro to you?"

The blonde deadpanned.

_Nope. _

He wasn't gracing that bastard with _that_ conversation, wherever Franky had pulled it from. He had had the feeling that this exchange would go poorly, but he had honestly hoped it wouldn't be _that_ bad.

"Basically, yeah, he's someone I constantly feel like feeding to sharks."

Time for Franky to deadpan and then glare at Sanji, clearly not satisfied with the answer.

"Also, sometimes I find myself feeling the urge to kick his face in, or maybe grill him, though I doubt he'd be any good edible material; too much gorilla muscle in there."

"Bro-"

"Oh, but it's not always like this, Franky. Sometimes I have mixed feelings about him," Sanji theatrically continued. "Sometimes I just feel the inclination to water the grass he has for hair, see if I can manage to grow a beautiful tulip there. Do you think that's possible? I would probably have to add some soil for it to work, but I was considering-"

"Sanji, I was being serious."

"Oh my God, you really can't take a joke, can you. Okay, let's be serious then: it's none of your business, Franky, so good luck trying to get a proper answer."

"Sanji-"

"No."

Franky frowned at him.

"You've been weird lately, that's why I am asking. Trying to make sure you don't do anything stupid that could affect the crew, that's what I am doing. Did you fight?"

Franky wasn't saying anything that wasn't true nor was it unreasonable for him to ask that.

A week ago, Sanji and Zoro had had a fight over something stupid that had somehow managed to end up touching part of their agreement's scope of interactions, and things had gotten complicated. Where a simple fight would've sufficed before, this time it didn't and they had basically been glaring at each other and hadn't been on speaking terms for a week.

It wasn't the fight per se that was worrying to Franky, it was the length of their cold war. Despite always arguing, they weren't ones to dwell in a particular argument for too long, at least in the past. Sanji swore it had been stupid, but their agreement had their interactions crossing limits more often than not and sometimes things got too intense. It wasn't just Sanji and Zoro, nakama and rivals, fighting with each other. Recently it was Sanji and Zoro, nakama and rivals _and a pair of proud men in a reckless and rather impulsive and ties-free sexual relationship_, that fought with each other. Things were a tiny bit more complicated now; their pride was bordering limits more often than before and there were more controversial fields of interaction for them to mess up and fight over. It wasn't a surprise that certain fights could get out of hand easier or for longer. It wasn't any drama or something actually damaging to anyone, but it did show when it happened, and sometimes a heated hook-up wasn't enough to keep them at bay. It didn't happen often, but the few times it had their crewmates had noticed something was off and out of the ordinary almost instantly.

Franky worriedly asking in his drunken state was proof of it. He had probably been concerned that an episode like The Rock's would happen a second time and he had pulled his father-mode from under his sleeve to address it. He was basically scolding Sanji, making him uncomfortable with an uncomfortable question to remind him that, whatever a problem they had, they needed to fix it soon. Which they would've done in one or two days without even realizing if Franky hadn't spoken about it and put Sanji on guard; a result he had probably miscalculated.

"He's my rival, Franky, that's what he is to me. And an asshole. I can't believe how many times I've had to kick his ass for being an idiot already," he growled.

After that, Franky rolled his eyes and let it be, knowing a lost fight when he saw one.

* * *

The next morning, a sober and slightly hungover Franky made his way to Robin's spot in the library with a worried frown after being flashed with last night's memories in confusing patterns.

"What's wrong?" asked the brunette.

"I may have asked something stupid while drunk. And, depending on how Sanji reacts… I may have made their current cold war worse?"

Robin carefully put her book aside and fixed him with an unimpressed stare.

"What exactly did you say?"

* * *

That's probably where it had started.

Sanji tended to go on strike every few weeks, which Zoro was rather used to, but there'd been a point out of nowhere where Sanji had started kicking him away every single time Zoro tried something, a turning-down spree that had swiftly followed by Sanji turning into more of a womanizer than he usually was every time they reached solid ground.

Zoro didn't have a way to know what the hell had gotten into him, but Sanji did. They'd been playing with the benefits of their deal for a few months now and it was going well, but Franky had to go out of his way to ask _that_.

He had clearly been trying to address their long-lasting fight rather than their relationship, but one thing could easily lead to another, and with the way he had formulated the question Sanji had felt cornered despite that not being Franky's intention at all.

Sanji had made it a point to ignore pointed stares and off-handed comments about his and Zoro's relationship despite them being few since their crew seemed to be addressing that subject the least bit possible in order to not put them on edge. That alone had him feeling stressed more often than not. If his nakama had been normally joking about it without a care in the world it wouldn't have been half as bad as feeling them thinking twice before commenting. It only confirmed the fact that, at least half of them (the ones who weren't oblivious enough to not notice when things were weird), suspected something was going on between him and Zoro.

Franky openly asking had made him panic. Their last fight had transpired and made the others worry enough to have their paternal figure ask about it, which was bad enough, but Franky had gone further than that. Instead of wording it so as to address the concrete fight, he had worded it in a way that addressed the core of their relationship and the way they were handling it. Which in his opinion was clearly poorly.

Being directly confronted by a question such as 'what is Zoro to you?', ulterior meaning or not, had him feeling like a caged animal for all the wrong reasons, so when he woke up the day after he did so with the resolution to put a solid full stop to whatever bullshit they were playing at.

It was nothing more than one of his many crisis along the way of coming to terms with what they were doing, really, but this time it was more extreme and way longer, which wasn't all that unexpected given how bad he had taken Franky's intervention and how intense Sanji could be in his mood swings.

Zoro had been trying to start contact with him once the usual time for a long fight of theirs would normally have come to an end, but Sanji had instinctively pushed him away time after time.

Some days Sanji would think about how it was unfair. Not the fact that he didn't feel like it, which he was absolutely entitled to, but the fact that he had been about to cut their agreement short more than once ever since that night but had ended up not doing so. It was one thing to have doubts every now and then and not want to drag Zoro into it; but it was a whole different story if his default urge lately was to cut ties and he _still_ kept Zoro out of it.

"What's wrong?"

It had been three weeks since the absolute drought had started, and Zoro had tried to back Sanji against the counter for the twentieth time ever since then, only to have Sanji push him away and tell him he wasn't in the mood. They had made stops in two islands so far, and Zoro hadn't even _seen_ Sanji once he had put a foot on land. He had run to women's hands as fast as lightening, that much was something Zoro knew.

Zoro's hand pressing insistently around his arm was hot and a tiny bit sweaty, and Sanji felt his stomach curl.

"I don't feel like it," he solidly answered, staring at Zoro dead in the eye for emphasis.

"You haven't been feeling like it for three weeks straight."

"Got a problem with that? Have I lost my right to decide when or for how long I want it or not?"

Zoro frowned at him and Sanji had trouble keeping his eyes locked to the swordsman's. He had a prying and rather aggressive stare fixed on him, but it was mostly worried at that point, and Sanji wasn't good at dealing with that unfamiliar side of the swordsman, even when it only manifested itself as a hint.

"No."

Zoro's answer was firm, clear as day. Of course he'd answer no. Zoro wasn't an asshole. But he wasn't stupid either.

"Is it because of that last fight? It has already been a month, I don't think-"

"Why do you insist so much?"

"Because I want to. And because I don't like being left in the dark about your intention to continue this or not. It's two of us here, not only you."

Sanji blinked at him. Zoro was sharp. Of course he knew what was going through Sanji's head. Partially. He knew what Sanji had been considering, at least. And what Zoro was saying was reasonable. This wasn't about Sanji not wanting it for a while. This was Zoro wanting to know if their deal was going to be upheld or was already being given up on.

"Is it over or is it not, Sanji?"

His name again. So unfair.

And, again, when being confronted by such a direct question, Sanji's whole being reveled with the answer. Just as he had needed and _wanted_ to flee when Franky had questioned him three weeks ago, he couldn't bring himself to say it was over once Zoro had asked him directly: both urges were intense and manipulating in the same annoying way. Postponing it while leaving Zoro aside was rather easy. Answering that it was over got the words stuck in his throat, although he did consider it for a second.

If he said it was over, it was over for good, and he knew himself well enough to know he'd regret it once his current negative phase had passed.

"You keep asking that," he murmured, feeling a bit lightheaded. It was tiring, trying to keep a composed façade all the time while going through a serious decision-making crisis inside, and he was doing a lot of that lately.

"You keep giving me reasons to ask," Zoro countered, serious but quiet, scared of scaring Sanji away any further.

Zoro may have gotten used to Sanji's periodical crisis and declinations, but this one had ended up making him freak out a bit.

If Sanji wanted their agreement to end, it wouldn't be the end of the world. He had spent the most part of his life coping with sexual frustration on his own, so it wasn't going to be a great loss as long as their nakamaship remained. However, the very thought of it _actually_ ending made him anxious, which had him trying Sanji on a daily basis to at least make him react: tell him if it was over or not so that Zoro wouldn't have to keep on losing sleep over it.

Initially, right at the beginning of the blonde's strike, Zoro's advances had been about trying to release stress or simply being horny and wanting to get rid of that, but that had merely become an excuse once the second week of drought had gone by. Right now it was about forcing Sanji into a clear answer that actually told him what was going on. He couldn't buy his 'I'm not in the mood' bullshit anymore, he knew him well enough to know there was something more, and Zoro needed to get it out of Sanji if he wanted any kind of relief at all. Fuck, he didn't even need to know what was going on, he just needed to know where they stood so that he could act accordingly.

He slowly lifted his free hand to grab Sanji's chin and force him to keep his eyes fixed on him. He was honestly pissed off. Sanji could handle his own shit all he wanted, but there were some things Zoro couldn't be excluded of. Period.

"Look, if it's over it's over, but you can't have me wondering what the hell is going through your-"

"It's not over."

Zoro pressed his lips together and stared at Sanji long and hard, a question ringing in the air. Sanji could be impulsive sometimes. They both knew it. So Zoro remained silent and pressed with his stare until Sanji's muscles relaxed and his eyes fell to the ground, all fight gone despite the underlying resistance he could feel emanating from the blonde.

"It's not over," he repeated, knowing that Zoro needed to hear it again, louder and clearer, and not out of an impulsive urge to answer something.

Zoro felt a weight lift off his shoulders and he let go of Sanji's face, willing to leave him alone until he actually wanted to be touched by the swordsman again. If he knew they were in the same page, he could and _would_ wait.

"Okay-"

Sanji grabbed him by his shirt and kissed him. He was angry, Zoro could feel it. Angry at Zoro and angry at himself. Because it should be easier to let it go, but he couldn't bring himself to. And because Zoro was enough of a persistent bastard to get that out of him when Sanji hadn't wanted to talk about it at all.

"I'm mad," he informed. He did sound angry. And frustrated.

"I can tell," Zoro murmured against his lips. "You don't need to do this. If you don't feel like it right now, it's-"

"Shut up."

Sanji lifted his shirt and forced Zoro out of it, his movements as aggressive and angry as he was feeling. Zoro let him do it without protesting, docile for the most part.

"Just… shut up."

* * *

From then on, their relationship continued more or less like it normally would, as long as they were on board. Sanji looked and felt angry more often than not, which had Zoro wanting to roll his eyes at him every single time. If he didn't want it that much he didn't need to do it, he'd remind him, feeling angry himself. But Sanji would make him shut up and then they'd get to do what they did best: helping each other get rid of tension, and then things would be fine for a while.

But, as soon as they reached land, Sanji would run away in order to find some girl, and Zoro would do the same…

Until he couldn't do it anymore.

He wasn't sure when it had changed. He had always felt annoyed when Sanji flirted with women, even before they had even thought of their deal. It was more of a general annoyance at his lame attitude than anything else, but it had become more and more irritating over the years. And it had escalated at fast speed once they had started fooling around.

Long gone were the days when Sanji would flirt with women in front of him to make him jealous and force a fast bathroom encounter. Sanji didn't do that anymore. If anything, he tried to keep his flings discreet and away from Zoro's sight out of respect. It made Zoro's blood boil, and it had kept getting worse. He couldn't stand it. He got so mad he would find a woman and do the thing whenever he knew Sanji was doing so, if only to keep his mind distracted and maybe out of the vicious circle of an old competitive mindset. It used to help. The days after they left an island were weird given how moody Zoro would become and how much he would avoid starting anything with Sanji for a while (say two days, he wasn't as strong-willed as to reject an open advance from the blonde when the other put his stubbornness into it), but it used to be a lot more bearable when he was able to release stress through his own one-night stands.

Zoro didn't remember what island it first happened in, but there was one night when Sanji left the bar with a stunning blonde. Zoro had watched her seduce their cook all night long. He had told himself he shouldn't be watching. Sanji had even taken her away from the group so that the whole flirting process wouldn't happen in front of them. But he watched. The moment they left, he was so fucking angry that Nami had to take his glass from his slightly unsteady hand and put it on the counter, thinking he might be sick.

"Are you feeling well?" she asked.

"Yes."

A lie.

He was a fucking liar. He wasn't feeling well. He was so jealous his stomach hurt. He was seeing red, but he was mostly feeling the effects of a general deflation in his body. For all the times he had felt annoyed when Sanji had taken a woman to bed, this was the first time he felt an empty void in his chest, one that had him clenching his jaw enough to hurt. He didn't know what to do with himself. They had been having a good week before that. Lots of fooling around and even joking. Sanji hadn't been irritated for the most part, and Zoro had been at peace with the whole situation. But it seemed that, the better their agreement went, the more Sanji would go out of his way to find himself in women's arms when his brain caught up with what was going on. And, the better it went, the more Zoro got mad at Sanji's own coping mechanism.

It may have been the previous week's good atmosphere messing him up that made him feel _this_ particularly bad, he told himself. It almost felt like desperate sadness, but he was too angry to be able to discern anything going on in his head or with his feelings.

A pretty woman had made her way towards him later on that night. That's where he had grown accustomed to flirt back and find relief, if only out of the need for distraction. She was pretty, she really was. She was interesting. The kind of woman Zoro would've tried something with even if he hadn't been pissed off at Sanji picking up a girl beforehand.

He stared at her, gaze empty and tired.

"I'm not interested," he said.

Liar.

It's not that he wasn't interested, it's just that he couldn't bring himself to play that game anymore. He didn't feel sadness too often, but there was a bit of it mixed with his anger, and it fucked him up because he didn't know any effective way to deal with it.

He couldn't touch her.

And so he left.

After that, this episode repeated itself again and again. If he'd had a good week with Sanji and a woman showed interest when they reached the next island, Zoro wouldn't find it in him to do anything but walk away. Not even the anger he felt when Sanji left with someone else fueled him enough. It's almost as if a normally raging flame inside him became small and weak every single time.

He tried to hide it, at least in front of Sanji, but it was getting harder. It had been fine while he got jealous for the night and moved on one or two days later, back when it was mere annoyance, but it was starting to wear him down, and he wasn't foolish enough to not acknowledge how unhealthy the whole situation was at that point. It wasn't only that he got angry when he saw Sanji with someone else (a much amplified version of what used to happen before the deal); now he couldn't even do his own thing with other people either because he had lost the drive to do so, that's how shitty his mood turned. He felt so frustrated and _wrong_ every time Sanji left with a girl… and it was taking a toll on him. What used to be punctual doses of anger had now turned into a general bad mood that stayed with him for days, and he was having trouble not letting it show in front of the blonde, especially when Sanji started something just a few days after leaving the last island.

The sixth time he rejected a woman he would have normally spent the night with, Zoro sat down in the crow's nest with his head in his hands and wondered what the hell was going on.

He had realized things were changing. He had realized he was becoming moody and bitter, a combination he didn't like, something he had never been, but he hadn't spent a second thinking about it. The first time a rejection had happened, he had blamed his awful mood and the fact that his hands seemed to be trembling out of wrath which rendered him unable to do anything productive with them. The following times, he had been so goddamn deflated and vexed that he had ended up sending everything to shit and trying to let it pass with some sleep. By the sixth time, it had happened often enough for it not to be an exception and for Zoro to need to address it in the privacy of his mind.

He couldn't stand Sanji being with other women, he realized. It put him on edge. It made him feel bitter in his good days and absolutely livid when he had enough alcohol in his system to have his senses clouded. Zoro hated jealousy. Up until recently, that was something he utterly despised, for it lacked use or value and it was prone to get the worst out of people. He liked teasing Sanji and he enjoyed it to an extent when the blonde challenged him with something under the pretext of making him jealous, but he was at odds with _actually_ feeling so, and he was feeling a lot of that.

Whenever Sanji was with women, he was so jealous it made him see red, he finally admitted to himself.

He hated what he found out.

His first urge was to end it himself.

He didn't need those kind of feelings, and he couldn't _allow_ jealousy to play a role in their relationship: above everything else they were nakama, and they owed that much decency to Luffy at least.

After a particularly bad weekend, Zoro approached Sanji the night after leaving harbor. They were alone in the galley, and the atmosphere was tense. Zoro opened the door, feeling dread creep up his stomach, with the intention to end the deal. He had thought about this, and he was rather convinced that it was the best course of action, if he was being rational.

When he stepped in, though, he realized that the atmosphere wasn't tense only because of what Zoro knew he was going to do. It was tense on Sanji's part as well, and that threw Zoro off. The moment he closed the door behind him, he found Sanji was looking at him with big wide eyes. His expression was nothing short of irritated and frustrated, but his stare was downright confused, and a little bit lost. Maybe scared.

_What?_

"What's wrong?"

It came out before he could filter it, a little bit anxious and a little too impatient. He had been asking that a lot recently, he realized.

Sanji blinked at him. He was fidgety, Zoro noticed. His usually steady hands were fiddling with his own fingers and his right foot was tapping anxiously against the galley floor from where he sat in front of the counter with a forgotten notebook open in front of him.

Zoro frowned. That wasn't how Sanji acted after spending a few nights with women on solid land. Whenever that happened, the blonde was chill and rather happy with everything going on around him, most definitely not as frustrated as he currently looked. Definitely not this insecure. Damn, he didn't even look insecure on a normal basis, nor when he was having it rough, so there was something absolutely wrong there.

"Hey," he insisted.

Sanji opened his mouth once, twice, but he couldn't decide on what to say, so he bit his lower lip and sent a helpless glance at his notebook, as if it had the answer he was supposed to deliver written on its pages.

It was such a weird sight. Zoro forgot about the purpose of coming to the galley and simply stared, feeling as lost as Sanji looked.

"What happened?" he tried again. He wasn't too sure of what he was supposed to be saying anymore.

"Nothing."

Sanji's answer was curt and a bit strained, and it felt a bit as if he was pushing Zoro away. Zoro frowned harder and took a few steps towards the blonde until he was in front of him.

"Oi."

Sanji nudged Zoro's hand away when he tried to grab his jaw to make him look at him, not harshly but still tensely. Zoro watched as Sanji sighed and stood up, putting a bit of distance between them. The blonde looked exhausted.

"I'm a bit tired. I think I'll go to bed."

Zoro stared at his face. Pale and smooth, broken where beard painted his features darker. His blue eyes flickered towards his for a second right before Sanji made his way around him and towards the door.

"Had too much fun last night?"

Sanji stopped in his tracks.

Zoro's brain caught up with the fading sound of his own words and he almost cursed out loud. He hadn't meant to ask that. He shouldn't have asked that. He shouldn't have made it sound like he was trying to slap Sanji across the room. It shouldn't have sounded this _bitter_.

When Sanji turned around to face him, his expression screamed he wanted to punch the swordsman. Hard. But it faded as soon as Zoro caught a glimpse of it, morphing into a tired smile.

"Good night."

Zoro blinked at the galley's door closing behind Sanji's retreating back.

Well. That hadn't gone as planned.

What the hell had that even been?

* * *

Sanji buried his face in his pillow, mentally exhausted and ready to flee the ship if Zoro got near him again in the next 24 hours.

The bastard.

_Had too much fun last night?_

Sanji wanted to laugh. They had been on solid land for two days and he had found a cutie who was more than a bit interested. He had left the club and gone home with her, a beautiful house in the outskirts of the city, a cozy place for them to spend the night in and have fun.

He hadn't gone in.

It had been going on for a while now. Not that he wouldn't take the chance to sleep with someone when offered, but the fact that he didn't end up half as satisfied as he used to after it happened. He hadn't given it thought at first, but it had started to become worrying. No matter how skilled his partners were, he was left with an uncomfortable crawling feeling in his veins, an itch he only saw satisfied when he did something with the swordsman a few nights later.

He kept thinking about what Zoro had said to him a while ago. Women couldn't give him the challenge Zoro could, he'd said. Women weren't half as fun as messing around with Zoro and being able to do whatever the hell he pleased with him could be, he'd said. Sanji wanted to deny it. He _did_ enjoy sleeping with women, and there was a kind of delicacy about them that he loved and couldn't be recreated when he was with Zoro. But, at the end of the day, if he wanted to release stress, his partners of choice had become less of a solution and more of a placebo for his ego.

There was a reason why he had been keeping the deal going. There was a reason why he never acted on his urges when they told him to end it. He liked what Zoro could give him, and now he realized he may be liking it a bit too much. The fact that spending the night with women wouldn't help calm his nerves anymore was proof of it, and it was scary. There had come a point where he felt rather anxious at the thought of having sex with them, since he knew he'd be worrying about his own lack of usual enthusiasm later.

The less satisfying it felt, the more he'd go for it in an attempt to prove to himself it was a phase that would pass.

Until that night.

He had caught a glimpse of Zoro staring at him as he was led out of the club by that cute brunette, and his expression, despite being completely schooled into impassivity, almost froze him in place. There was something so very _wrong_ about it, but he couldn't pinpoint what as he let her lead him across several streets with her hand in his arm.

When he found himself standing at her front door with an open invitation to go in, Sanji had stayed there, looking lost and feeling confused. He wasn't thinking about what awaited for him inside, he was thinking about what the fuck Zoro's expression had been.

He didn't remember what he had said to refuse her. He remembered apologizing a lot. He remembered feeling a bit sick as he went back to the ship and wondered what on Earth he was doing.

But the fact remained he went back to the ship.

_Had too much fun last night?_

Sanji smirked into his pillow, but he wasn't amused, not in the least bit. He should've punched that useless piece of moss they had for a swordsman. _That_ would've been stress-relieving.

Fuck, what was up with himself?

This was scary.

* * *

After the previous night's episode, Zoro wasn't too sure about how to approach Sanji, nor if it was a good moment to address the expire date of their agreement, but he told himself he should probably do it anyway. Sanji had acted absolutely weird and lost not even 24 hours earlier, and Zoro felt rather wary about it, but he couldn't really afford losing any more self-control, and postponing it would be stupid. Not to mention nothing like him.

But Sanji sneaked on him when it was Zoro's turn to keep watch, and Zoro didn't have it in him to shake him off when the blonde stripped for him and attacked him like he hadn't had sex in years, frustrated and demanding. He thought of saying no. He remembered Sanji leaving with that brunette and losing it a bit because of it, and he had the urge to push him away, but Sanji sat on his lap and ran his arms around his shoulders, keeping him close and working his lips on his neck, and Zoro decided against it.

* * *

They were at a club.

Zoro was watching a rather familiar game play itself at the other end of the room. Sanji had had the decency to take her away from the crew, but Zoro, as always, was looking. It was none of his business, nor did he have the right to complain, but it hurt. He had seen it plenty of times, before and after the deal. It's not like Sanji was _always_ with someone; more like Zoro only seemed to remember the times he did leave with girls. But it wasn't as scarce a practice as he would've liked.

She had another face and flashed a different charming smile, but the process was the same. They recognized Sanji as someone 'famous', checked he was as attractive as rumors claimed, and approached him, and if Sanji was interested enough to do something about it, a slow sensual dance of chatter and small laughter started.

Zoro felt Nami take his cup away from his hands, carefully but firmly.

"You are going to break it."

Zoro stared at her, eyes tired. She looked worried. Honestly worried. Zoro didn't like it. He didn't like people worrying about him.

"I'm going back to The Sunny," he muttered. "Usopp probably wants to come to the party as well; I'll take his watch."

He didn't have the strength to witness Sanji's flirting process until the blonde left. That was enough for the night.

"Need me to come with you so that you don't get lost?" Nami offered.

"No."

She walked with him anyway. She didn't pry, nor did she attempt to lighten the mood, she just walked by his side and let him have his silence, and Zoro felt a tiny bit comforted. Nami wasn't always _that_ bad, he thought.

* * *

"Rise and shine, shithead."

Zoro groaned and painfully opened his good eye only to realize he had fallen asleep while on watch. Oh, what's new.

It was still dark outside, and the only light in the room reflected on blonde strands right in front of him. Sanji kicked his shin, earning a groan, and sat down a few feet away from him as nonchalantly as ever.

"What a shitty way to keep watch. At least Usopp doesn't sleep on the job."

"What the fuck are you doing here?" His voice came out dragged and sleepy, but he still did a pretty decent job at vocalizing.

"You've done your share. It was Franky's turn, but he was doing a very heartfelt rendition of a diva hit of, like, three thousand years ago, and I figured his drunken ass would be of no use if he had to keep watch for the entire second half of the night, so here I am. Now go to sleep."

"No, really," Zoro felt inexplicably pissed off. "What are you doing here? Weren't you about to disappear for the night with that trophy girl of yours?"

"Call someone a trophy girl again and I'll kick your teeth in. Show some fucking respect," Sanji snarled, immediately protective as he usually was.

Zoro scowled at him. Sanji had a point. But fuck, he was angry. He had fallen asleep with that unfamiliar lump swallowing his chest, and it hadn't gotten better with some sleep.

"Did she dump you?"

Sanji lit himself a cigarette. He had a bit of trouble with the lighter. Zoro counted four attempts before he managed to light a flame. The blonde took a drag but didn't answer.

Zoro blinked in surprise and a weird blooming satisfaction took over him.

"Fuck, she did. She dumped your sorry ass."

Sanji stared at him and his eyes felt cold, but Zoro didn't flinch. Mask in place, he let out a deliberate mocking smirk, the one he was supposed to use in this kind of situations.

"Did she realize you are lame halfway through? About time someone did."

"That little teasing of yours would work a huge deal better if your jealousy wasn't showing, marimo," Sanji retorted with a lazy tone. There was something else to it, but Zoro couldn't quite pinpoint it.

"I'm not fucking jealous."

Sanji shrugged and rested his head against the wall, staring ahead of him with an indecipherable blank expression.

Zoro felt a bit restless. Sanji wasn't acting like he was supposed to and Zoro was too much on edge to be fine with that.

A thought hit him after a while and slight uncomfortableness settled in his stomach.

"If you have come here for me to finish the job where she left you hanging, you can forget about it."

Sanji turned to look at him and Zoro was met with a scowl so deep it could compete with one of his.

"I haven't. There's this thing called decency. Out of the both of us, the only one who has ever done that is you, so shut the fuck up."

Zoro was about to retort, but he ate his own words, feeling guilty by the second just as much as he was feeling outraged for being called out on _that_ after so much time had passed.

"I was shit-faced! I couldn't tell my left from my right!" he defended. He recalled that night's events and forced them out of his head. It had happened months ago! Back in Terevera. Fuck, had it really been this long since goddamn Terevera fucked his life up?

"You can't tell your left from your right now either. And you still did it, so it counts."

"Shut your trap. You went with it."

Sanji's glare could've cut through him if he had bothered to try. Zoro bit his lip. Okay, that had been uncalled for.

"Sorry. It was my fault, it was my fault," he reluctantly admitted in order to placate him.

"Go to sleep."

"Don't want me here?"

"No. I'm taking the next watch. Go to sleep," Sanji repeated, firm.

He looked uneasy, and Zoro wondered what was going on. Sanji should have been way more upset at a lady standing him up; crying in a corner like a drama queen or starting an actual fight with Zoro now that he was conveniently there sounded about right. But it was a different kind of frustration that Sanji was oozing. There was worry and resignation in it, and Zoro couldn't do his math in order to decipher what the hell was behind _that _attitude. He wasn't equipped with that perceptiveness.

Zoro might have probably taken too long to move, comfortable as he bodily was laying there, because Sanji broke the silence again after a while.

"Zoro, I am frustrated. I'm going to end up taking it out on you if you don't do yourself a favour and leave."

All comfortableness left him at once. Had Sanji just said that for real?

Zoro sat up, half groggy but mostly confused and a little wary. It was a fair warning. But it wasn't like Sanji to admit something like that out loud, although at the same time it was totally _Sanji _to try to keep Zoro away out of respect if that's what he was feeling.

It made contradictory feelings swirl inside his gut. On the one hand, what Sanji had just said had momentarily pushed him to want to say he wouldn't care. And, to an extent, he wouldn't. The thought of having Sanji when the lack of him and the knowledge of him being with someone else had been hurting so much was almost like an oasis in the middle of a dessert; inviting and relieving. On the other hand, that same knowledge made him want to flee. Because he hated it. He hated that Sanji had been with someone else, and he knew for a fact that he'd kick Sanji away if he tried anything with him after being cock-blocked by someone else. Zoro wanted to call it pride, but it was something else entirely.

It wasn't the thought that he was second to someone else. It wasn't basic decency rules telling him he didn't even want to be touched with hands that had just touched someone else. It was the fact that Sanji had been with someone else _per se_.

It was that knowledge that had him feeling asphyxiated and caused a hole in his chest every single time an episode like that repeated itself. He wanted it to go away. He didn't like the way he was reacting nor did he want to react like that, but it still hurt and Zoro didn't know what to do with it other than feeling unreasonably angry at something he hadn't as much as given a fuck about until a few months ago.

Given how aware he was about how much he disliked the situation, he should have listened to Sanji and left.

But he stayed.

The oppressiveness he had just recently felt that night when watching Sanji flirt, knowing what came after, and the fact that he was being confronted by it again not even a few hours later in a tiny room with Sanji _in it_ reminded him of what he had been attempting to do several times now.

If their deal had to bring him more frustrations and upset than it brought relief and fun, he was better off letting it go. He felt something come up his throat when he sat straight and willed himself to say it, resolution firm once and for all. Fuck, this would be so much easier if he _actually _wanted to end it. Wholeheartedly.

Sanji was staring at him already, and he seemed to notice the change in the atmosphere, his expression going from warning to alert. It must have showed in Zoro's scowl. The swordsman thought he had schooled his features into detachment, and he actually had, but Sanji could read him like an open book.

"What?" he asked. He was serious, and he straightened his posture as well.

Zoro chewed his inner cheek, a habit he wasn't used to at all, the same way he wasn't used to nervousness. He cursed himself. Since when did he doubt his decisions? Since when wasn't he able to voice his thoughts out loud?

Since he didn't want to, probably, but that was for him to analyze later on.

Out with it.

"I'm uncomfortable."

Zoro scrunched his eyebrows. That's _not_ how the talk was meant to start in his head. He was meant to say something on the lines of "I don't want this anymore" or "let's put an end to this". Why couldn't he bring himself to say it?

"Uncomfortable with what?"

Zoro realized he had averted his eye at some point, and he was fast to snap it back to Sanji's blue. Shadows made it seem black from where he sat, but Zoro knew what colour those irises caged, and it made his heart hurt a bit. He was grateful he couldn't see it.

"This," Zoro gestured around them, his frustration open to the world. "The deal."

Sanji tensed up, and Zoro didn't know why he was surprised. He didn't know why he kept expecting Sanji to kick him away like it was nothing once Zoro hinted at him wanting to end things. He didn't know why Sanji reacting rather badly at those kind of conversations was such a shock, but it made his stomach twist.

"Why?"

It was guarded and careful, quiet in the amplitude of the crow's nest, but Zoro heard it and identified reticence there. He should've just said he wanted their agreement to be over. Less explaining to do. But he hadn't. He had been vague and had left an opening for discussion. He wasn't entirely sure it had been an accident on his part.

"I… uh. I mean, this whole sleeping around with people the moment we reach harbor and then going at it like animals back in the ship…" Sometimes he wished he was better with words. This would've been much easier if he'd had Sanji's endless eloquence. "It used to be fine, but I'm really not comfortable with… _that _anymore."

Sanji's expression was now guarded as his tone had been, a perfect serious mask in place, not giving away his unease. It pissed Zoro off, because if Sanji had been a little anxious, at least, it would've helped.

"With what exactly?"

Zoro wanted to roll his eyes. He didn't want to have that conversation. If it was going to be over, he wanted it to be over already.

"Are you _actually_ jealous?"

"Fuck, no!"

Liar.

If he hadn't almost jumped at the question, he would've sounded more believable. He was openly glaring at Sanji now, but the cook wasn't mocking him at all, he was honestly asking, and under his mask Zoro caught a glimpse of confusion.

"_No._"

Lies.

Sanji waited patiently. It was then when Zoro noticed the blonde grabbing at his own fingers, too concentrated on keeping his face blank to realize what the rest of his body was doing. Which meant he was a tiny bit shaken or distracted at the very least, else he wouldn't have let that gesture slip.

"I'm not comfortable with… not knowing where the hell your dick or hands have been. It's not _one_ one-night stand, it's lots of them recently, and it's _fine_, but if I'm going to be fooling around with you I don't want to be worrying about where you have stuck it in the day before, or the week before for that matter."

Well, in all honesty, that _was_ true. His rational side acknowledged that as completely valid and understandable, and it probably was, but he wasn't foolish enough to believe that was the reason behind his shitty mood. Whatever his issue was, though, the main problem laid in Sanji sleeping with other people. It threw his balance off and it made their whole agreement unworthy of the headache, so there it was.

Sanji was staring at him, hard, and Zoro felt the need to get out of there. But now came the part where he derived conclusions out of his statement; the time where they both concluded it was better to call it quits and do their own thing if this was going to be a problem, so he stayed in order to finish it once and for all.

"You're saying you want this to be exclusive? No more sleeping around with others?"

_What?_

"What?"

Zoro stared at Sanji like he had grown a second head, heart climbing up his throat because that's _not_ what Sanji should've concluded at all. It was only then that it dawned on Zoro that it was a possibility. They _both_ had a saying in this, and it was absolutely legitimate for Zoro to put conditions if he felt he needed them, just as it was legitimate for Sanji to reject those terms. But he hadn't thought of asking that, not for a moment. It hadn't even crossed his mind, because he was positive it would've never crossed Sanji's. He wasn't going to get a 'yes' if he asked, which was enough of a reason to discard that option, Zoro thought.

But that's exactly where Sanji thought Zoro was going, and Zoro didn't know how on Earth he could've formulated his explanation for him not to be put in the spot as he was at the moment.

He could say that's not what he was implying, although he technically had the right to ask. He could clarify what he had planned to tell him and get it over with, and that would save him the trouble of earning himself a declination from Sanji about something he should've known better than to consider. Sanji wouldn't leave his women. He wouldn't give up on them for the simple sake of convenience. Zoro wasn't worth that nor would he ever surpass whatever the hell drew Sanji to the opposite sex. Zoro was merely convenient, and suggesting an exclusive relationship with him was aiming way too high, not to say something Zoro hadn't really even planned until Sanji had assumed that's what he meant.

Yet, the possibility was there, in front of him. The possibility to ask and be rejected. Sanji looked as expectant of an answer as he looked troubled, and Zoro could only imagine where this was going to go.

To the goddamn _trash can_.

But that's where Zoro had initially been planning to send it anyway, wasn't it? Whatever he did, the result was the same, with the only difference of embarrassment being part of the equation or not.

Sanji blinked and the faint light in the room made a flash of blue spark in his visible eye.

It was just a spec, but it was the actual ocean reflected on those eyes, even in the dark, even in a closed room, beautiful and intense and unfair. It was _really_ unfair, Zoro thought. Sanji was unbelievably unfair and Zoro was more than a bit doomed. This should have been easier. Talk about dealing with his obsession.

"Yes."

Sanji blinked at the same time Zoro frowned harder, unsure. This time, Zoro could sense the hesitation oozing from the blonde, mask be damned.

"Yes what?"

He could still backpedal if he tried, Zoro considered. But when he opened his mouth and the first words started forming an answer, he was forced to accept the fact that his brain wouldn't be taking any of his considerations into account.

"Yes to I want the whole sleeping around with others to be over. As in, a condition for the deal to be upheld. I honestly don't feel comfortable at all with it, not to mention it is absolutely unsafe, and our agreement is rather useless if it only adds stress. I don't want to be thinking about who you touched or what you did to who the night before, and I don't want to worry about you catching… things and giving them to me. Or the other way around. It's… it's just weird and rather twisted if you think about it."

Once it was out, Zoro felt high-strung but also relieved. It was out. Not exactly what he had been planning to say and entirely more exposing than he would've liked, but it had sounded reasonable and his tone had been steady despite his whole body feeling fidgety with every word he uttered. It didn't change the fact that Sanji would dismiss it, which was already making his stomach coil, but at least he had said what he needed to. More or less. Not that he knew he needed to say this until one minute ago.

Zoro took in Sanji's tense stance and immediately backpedaled, though, panicking at the doubt of what Sanji might've assumed this time.

"What I'm saying is that, if we do it, I want to do it safely. That being said; you can obviously say no and have this end, that's fine as well."

It wasn't fine.

When had he become such a liar? He didn't remember being one.

The moment he said that word, 'fine', he felt it punch him in the face. Ah, fuck, he had to compose himself. It wasn't the end of the world. It was technically going to be fine. No one was going to be hurt and it was probably the smartest thing to do. But it wouldn't _feel_ fine. Rather than diminishing, his obsession with the blonde had skyrocketed ever since their fooling around had become usual, and it was a bit like a drug now. Whenever he felt itchy, he found himself looking for Sanji. It was automatic and more of an intense urge than a planned course of actions at that point, and it was going to be difficult to settle things down and forget about that dependence they had built between the both of them over the last few months.

_Good luck with that_, he thought. _You're gonna have to cope, you useless needy bastard_, Zoro told himself, like he needed to be reminded of it.

The hint of blue in Sanji's eye disappeared when he moved and his face was swallowed by shadows again, his whole body visibly trying to find a way to relax when all of his muscles were tense and on edge.

Sanji looked at his hands and then at the wall in front of him. Then at his cigarette and back at his hands. He didn't look at Zoro. The swordsman watched with dread as Sanji took a deep breath and let out a profound sigh while he scrunched his eyebrows together and brought his fist to his forehead for steadiness.

"Fuck," he muttered with his raspy voice.

Fuck indeed, Zoro mentally agreed as his stomach threatened to make its way out of his mouth. He managed to control it. At least for the time being.

"It's fine," he murmured; a poor attempt at making Sanji feel less guilty when declining. Not that he had any reason to feel guilty, but his expression at the moment didn't look short of troubled. "It's fine."

It would be fine. Eventually. At the moment it felt like he was receiving a storm of kicks in the face. Sanji's kicks to be precise.

"Okay."

Zoro raised his head again and fixed his eye on Sanji, momentarily lost. He wanted to ask what he was agreeing on exactly out of everything he had said, but he couldn't find his voice as he waited with his breath frozen for Sanji to elaborate.

He didn't.

Zoro groaned. "Okay _what_?"

"Okay to making it exclusive."

Silence.

"Wait, _what_?"

Zoro had finally lost it. He was positive he had. There was _no way_ Sanji was agreeing to _that_. His best hopes had laid on Sanji trying to convince Zoro to uphold their agreement according to their current conditions, but he hadn't thought, for a minute, that Sanji would say yes to giving up to ladies for the deal's sake.

"You heard me."

Sanji looked pissed off. He still wasn't looking at Zoro.

"Are you drunk?"

"No."

"… are you upset that she dumped you so you're going through a pessimistic phase where you think nobody but me will want you so you go along with it out of self-pity?"

This time, he earned himself a pointed glare.

"What _the fuck_ was that?" Sanji growled, visibly angry at Zoro's stupidity.

"No?"

"Fucking _no_."

"Then why-"

"Look, you asked. I said yes. There's nothing more to it, so drop it already."

Zoro shook his head. He should just go along with it and accept it like the lucky bastard he was, but there was something shocking enough to it for him to be sceptic about it.

"No, no. Something must've happened. Do you realize what you're agreeing to? Leaving your ladies aside in favour of convenient sex with a _man_? Have you considered that part?"

He should've expected Sanji turning around and grabbing his shirt in that aggressive way he had of handling Zoro at times given how much he had been pissing him off, but it still caught him off guard. Zoro was clearly off his game that night. Sanji shook him hard once before steadying Zoro in front of him.

"For the thousandth time, Zoro, if you want to end it, end it, but stop pushing that on me. I agreed. If you want to back down you can, but stop fucking with me."

Zoro blinked at him. He could feel Sanji's breath on his face, which didn't help his concentration at all.

"Do you want to keep it up?"

It was more of a harsh demand than a question, so Zoro forced himself to answer, and he found himself nodding despite himself.

"Do you want it to be exclusive? Is that your condition?"

Zoro didn't doubt about that one. "Yes. That's my condition. Else I'm calling quits."

"Then it's fucking exclusive. End of the conversation. Now fuck off."

Sanji shoved him away and lit himself another cigarette, his hands half as steady as he was pretending to feel. There was something unsure and vulnerable about him Zoro couldn't be imagining, something that went passed his façade of confidence and conviction.

"Are you okay?"

Sanji stared at him in disbelief. Zoro didn't usually push, at least not verbally (The Rock and the coliseum games at Terevera had proved him to be very able to push Sanji's limits in various other ways, but he didn't usually use words), so they were both aware of the exceptionality of Zoro doing so.

"Go to sleep, Zoro."

He sounded so tired.

"If you don't-"

"I said I agreed. Come on, go to sleep."

Zoro wanted to press. There was something about Sanji at the moment that made him want to get closer to him and offer a shoulder for support, but he knew he was going to be rejected and he didn't even know what he should be a support for. And he couldn't forget the fact that Sanji was only there because he had just been dumped, which made him a little bit more reluctant to initiate contact despite the unexpected success he had scored that night.

"If you ever want to-"

"If I ever want to go back to my ladies I'll tell you, yes. It's provisional. But as long as it's more convenient than occasional harbor hook-ups you don't have to worry."

"Ever so pragmatic."

Sanji let out a small smile that disarmed Zoro in all the wrong ways.

He didn't want to leave that night. Even when he needed alone time to process what had just happened and the new step they had decided to take in their… whatever they were doing. Even when he knew he'd be uncomfortable touching Sanji knowing he'd touched a woman one or two hours before. Despite it all, he wanted to stay. If only to keep him company and make that small crack of vulnerability and uncertainty go away.

"Can I stay?"

Sanji studied him, dark bags under his eyes and his forehead resting on his hand in a weary fashion.

"I'm frustrated."

Again, it was a fair warning. Zoro should've taken it. A huge part of him wanted to listen and leave.

"I don't care," he said instead.

He wanted to stay.

Sanji stared at him like he had gone nuts, but Zoro took a step forward, hiding his own doubts with fake confidence.

"I don't know what's actually going through your head, but you need a distraction. I don't mind staying. Need a fight? I can kick your ass if that's what you need. The deck is empty."

There was that small smile again illuminating Sanji's features, minutely soft. Zoro didn't want it to be small at all, he wanted it to be big and to cause Sanji's nose to crinkle at its bridge like it should, but that's the best he could hope for at the moment.

"You're clearly still groggy," Sanji commented, tone quiet but still making an attempt at humor.

Zoro frowned at him in question.

"You're being nice and somewhat caring. Where's the cactus I've been putting so much effort into growing?"

"Cact-"

"I'm fine, Zoro, come on, go to sleep. We'll talk tomorrow, or whatever."

Zoro sighed, but ended up nodding. The amount of respect Sanji showed towards him sometimes was a bit overwhelming. Sanji could've clearly used the distraction Zoro was offering, especially if Zoro was implying he didn't mind that much after all, but he still kept it to himself, sticking to the rule of not touching after having touched someone else. Even when he had ignored that same rule for Zoro's sake when the swordsman had been needy and drunk and their positions had been reversed back in Terevera.

He was a good man.

"Good night," Zoro muttered, feeling exhausted. His chest was giving him trouble.

So much had happened and he still didn't understand how half of it had even been real. Sanji was like that: unpredictable and surprising. Zoro supposed that was what he liked the most about him, even when it left him confused and having trouble with keeping up with the blonde.

"Honestly, if you need some ass kicking I'll be in the bunks."

"Fucking _leave_ already."

It came out as an exasperated laugh that was trying to sound annoyed but ended up sounding strained. Sanji was clenching his fists against his knees, his whole body tense despite his total control of his expression, which wouldn't have given away the fact that, yes, as he had warned him, he was extremely frustrated and he was going to take it out on Zoro if he stayed there any longer.

Zoro pressed his lips together. He must have been a masochist, but he _really_ wanted to stay.

He left.

Sanji was making an effort at respecting him, and it would be damn disrespectful on Zoro's part to dismiss that and openly tempt him to do something Sanji was trying to avoid for his sake. There was a difference between Sanji being frustrated because he hadn't gotten laid in weeks or because of his general bad mood and Sanji being frustrated because he had just been dumped or cockblocked, and the cook had drawn a strict line between the two of them that he wasn't willing to cross. Zoro respected that. He was almost thankful. If only he hadn't wanted to stay with him so much he would've even felt moved.

His feet hit the deck and he stood there, not feeling sleepy at all anymore. It would've been poetic to raise his head and look at the stars as he reflected on the last turn of events, but Zoro wasn't poetic nor did he have the capacity to think anything further than 'what the fuck just happened?' at the moment, so he simply stared ahead at nothingness, blinking hard in confusion and relief. There wasn't much of a breeze that helped him clear his ideas nor would it have been of any use if there had been one.

There was a bittersweet feeling pounding in his chest as he balanced the fact that, yes, Sanji had magically agreed to make their agreement exclusive which meant no more jealous headaches to worry about, and the fact that Sanji had just been with someone else, rejected or not. He had seen him flirt all night, and it had put him in that awful mood it did, which was just being uplifted by their last confusing conversation, but it still loomed over him.

Why had Sanji even agreed? He clearly enjoyed his flirting and the whole 'giving attention and pampering the ladies' game. He wasn't dumb enough to believe the flirting would stop, but he still couldn't wrap his head around the fact that Sanji was putting aside the best part of it all willingly. Yet he had.

Zoro felt an excited thump in his chest and he was almost startled, because _what the fuck_. Excitement? Was he a teenager or something? If he was to feel something it should be relief, not _excitement_ out of all things. What was wrong with him?

"Zoro! Zoro, Zoro!"

He lifted his eyes from wherever they had been fixed without giving way to an instinctive flinch of surprise and found Franky climbing up their ship with more than a bit unsteady movements. Zoro blinked at him in mild confusion, trying to get his thoughts to work outside of the tunnel-focused path they had been following.

"You okay there?"

"Bro, have you seen Sanji?"

Zoro stared as Franky slumped forward and caught his own weight with his hands against his knees, wheezing and lightly staggering in the process.

"Man, you're wasted," he observed, face in a perfect deadpan.

"Have you seen him?"

Zoro frowned. He would've been highly amused by the display if a certain someone's name wasn't the object of their attempt at a conversation. Zoro pointed a finger at the crow's nest, gaze questioning.

Franky whined.

"Aw, damn."

"What did he do?"

"Nothing. Damn, it was my t-turn. For watch. He took it."

Zoro blinked again. "Yes, I can see why."

"No, but I didn't see him leaving. Damn. I was going to do it, he didn't have to leave!"

At least he was able to order thoughts and voice them out loud in an intelligible way. Maybe he wasn't a lost cause. But he was definitely unfit for watch at the moment.

"I honestly think it's best if he takes it, Franky. He doesn't mind. Go back or go to sleep but don't bother trying to convince him; he'll kick you out."

He knew that for a fact. He would've kicked the cyborg out under normal circumstances. If on top of that he was pissed off, Franky wouldn't even stand a chance.

"No, but I have to apologize at least. Ugh. _Agh_, I'm so sorry… he was having a good time."

Zoro automatically scowled, something ugly flaring in his chest.

"She dumped him, so it's fine. Stop worrying, he didn't have anything better to do."

Well, that had sounded harsh. Specially the first part.

He realized Franky looked severely confused, his head tilted to the side comically enough.

"_Uh?_"

Zoro raised an eyebrow. He wasn't particularly good at dealing with drunk people trying to communicate. He tended to either laugh at them or ignore them or carry their dead weight back home, but he wasn't used to trying to humor their conversations.

"What?" he inquired, not knowing what had triggered Franky's confusion.

"What do you mean she dumped him?"

Zoro gritted his teeth. Great. "The girl he was with. She dumped him. So you haven't really kept him from anything."

Franky blinked owlishly, a look at odds with his steely face.

"What do you mean _she_ dumped him?" he repeated, punctuating his words in a way that made it seem like he _knew_ what he was asking.

Zoro clicked his tone and rolled his eyes, starting to feel pissed off.

"She said no. She rejected him. She got rid of the cook. She refused his advances," he listed in a weary tone in hopes that at least one of his clarifications reached brain tissue.

Franky frowned at him.

"I know what dumping someone means," he grumbled, straightening his body a tad once he felt he wasn't about to fall to the ground. Then he fixed Zoro with the same confused stare, just that now there was a furrowing of brows attached to it. "You mean the girl with the blue dress? Petite, really pretty?"

Zoro's scowl darkened, an uncomfortable twist appearing in his stomach as he remembered that same woman caressing Sanji's cheek countless times that night.

"Yes."

With the way Franky's eyebrows pressed even more together, one might have thought he was trying to achieve a convincing monobrow.

"But she didn't reject him."

Zoro's stomach downright dropped. How long had it been since he had left the party? Had Sanji had the time to do his thing with her and come back? Well, he had, but Zoro would've assumed he'd spend the whole night with her if his chivalrous attitude was anything to go by. Why the fuck hadn't he corrected Zoro, then? So he _had_ been successful.

Zoro clenched his jaw painfully tight. Anger creeped up his veins-

"It was Sanji."

_What?_

Zoro snapped his gaze back to Franky, genuinely bewildered. Franky startled a bit at the suddenness of it.

"The _cook_? The cook rejected her?"

"Eh… yes? Not too long after you left. I don't think they even kissed. She left half-crying so Sanji was beating himself for hurting her feelings, but Nami and the rest had finally managed to cheer him up and he was starting to actually have fun, but then I- he took my watch- _agh_! I'm so sorry! Now he's alone and he'll get depressed again!"

_What?_

"Wait, wait, hold up! You mean to say _the cook_ said no to a woman? An attractive one?" Zoro interrupted his tirade, closing distances so that he could properly look at Franky's face.

"Uh, yes. He did, yes."

Zoro was blinking rapidly, astounded.

"But that's… I mean, that's _not_ like him."

Franky widened his eyes and nodded in agreement. "I know, right. But he's been like that since… uh. Two weeks ago? I think it's the second woman I've seen him reject. And there's been a few other times when he's left with someone and has come back too early for them to actually… you know."

Zoro stared at Franky's chest, trying to process that information. Sanji hadn't touched that woman? But he hadn't denied he had been dumped… wait, he had rejected several women now? Was that what Franky had just said.

"_What the fuck_."

"Ah, but I really need to apologize!" Franky snapped, back into motion. "I'll take this watch. It's mine."

He didn't make it two steps towards the crow's nest before Zoro grabbed the back of his shirt and firmly stopped him in his tracks, making him stumble in an awkward drunken way.

"He'll kick you out. And you can't take this watch; you almost fell just there," he chastised in a stern tone. No way was he letting that idiot put himself in charge of responsibilities right now.

"Isn't that rich. You sleep through all of your watches," Franky scoffed, shrugging his nose at him.

Zoro tried not to blush in embarrassment.

"It's a whole different thing to nap than to be drunk."

"Meh."

"Come on, you'll take the cook's watch another time as compensation. Either go back or go to sleep."

Franky glared at him for a while until he seemed to decide it was enough and his whole body relaxed.

"Okay."

Zoro blinked. Well, that had been easy.

"By the way. You're trying too hard not to think too hard, but you're failing miserably at it. You need to chill, bro."

"What?"

Franky smiled one of his paternal smiles at him, and Zoro cringed in advance.

"Keep Sanji company, I think he needed distraction."

"_What?_"

The cyborg winked at him and Zoro cringed harder, but he was too busy trying not to jump at his words to truly be disgusted by him. For a moment, Franky didn't look all that drunk at all. Then he seemed to remember something and instantaneously went back to acting like a drunkard would, body slouching and sheepish smile in place.

"I think I'm going back to the party. It's too early to sleep. Have fun, bro!"

Zoro blinked as Franky left the boat with way more agility than someone with as much alcohol as he had assumed he had in his veins should be able to.

_What the fuck._

He stared at the lawn long and hard until hiccupped thoughts came back to him in flashes. Sanji hadn't touched that woman. He had rejected her himself. And hadn't corrected Zoro when he had vocally assumed it had been the other way around. He hadn't even let Zoro touch him due to a rule that didn't really apply to the situation at hand now that Zoro knew what had actually happened.

His gaze snapped towards the crow's nest, something similar to nervousness hitting him full-force in the blink of an eye.

What was Sanji doing?

* * *

Sanji lighted himself another cigarette and sighed into it before burying his face in his knees.

He was scared. Of himself.

It was the fifth time he rejected a perfectly beautiful and interesting woman. It hadn't become any easier through repetition. It still made him feel like shit. It's not like he didn't try. He was easily dragged into flirting and he loved it, and he was fast to get into the kind of flirting that meant something would end up happening afterwards. Every time it started, he honestly believed and hoped it would go like this. But the moment they tried to kiss him or asked him to go home with them, his smile froze in place. He couldn't bring himself to say yes.

He was scared of saying yes. There had come a point where half of his encounters resulted into dissatisfaction and Sanji was so at odds with that feeling he didn't even know what to do with himself. He had believed it would go away, but it didn't. It was getting worse. There had come a point when he had started _comparing_.

What the actual fuck.

He'd be with a woman and she'd be biting into his neck and, instead of melting into it, he'd find himself wishing she'd bite rougher. She took care of them and pampered them. That had always been part of sex with women on his part. He now wished he could skip that. He wished they would start a fight while they were at it, not a nasty one, just the right words or gestures to turn it into a challenge. They mostly didn't, or they did but it wasn't _exactly_ what he was craving.

It had started like that. The moment those thoughts morphed from abstract wishes to '_Zoro_ would be doing this instead', Sanji had stopped being able to say yes to their advances altogether, afraid of thinking that again. That had been two weeks ago. The last time he had said yes.

It was eating him alive, consuming his patience and making him wonder what was wrong with him. It wasn't that he didn't like sex with women, fuck, he loved it, but he couldn't stand comparing and he was doing a lot of that lately. It's just that sometimes… he needed something more. A challenge. He craved challenges.

Zoro was his daily dose of challenges. Before the deal, it had been through fighting and he had more than enough with that. He had never attributed the quality of a challenge to sex because it had never been anything like that to him, not with his partners of choice. Ever since he had started fooling around with Zoro, it's almost as if his sex life had been physically injected with the concept of challenge and now it was starting to become a necessary part of it for it to be fulfilling at all.

Scary.

Fucking scary.

Especially because Zoro was the only one who had ever given him that in that particular sphere of his life. There was a degree of dependence there that he absolutely hated.

Yet, as a matter of fact, he craved what Zoro gave him. If not, their agreement would have withered ages ago. Sure he had been fleeing every now and then and hadn't been exactly easy about it, but he always came back and, the moment Zoro backpedaled, he pushed in favour of it. If that wasn't telling enough, he didn't know what was. He _loved_ fooling around with Zoro. It was exhilarating and _different_, and it satisfied everything he craved for.

_Of course_ he had said yes.

To the agreement being exclusive, that is. He hadn't even had to think much. He didn't want it to be over.

Zoro was dumb. Of course he wasn't happy with leaving ladies aside, but it's not like he could _touch_ them without feeling bad about his second thoughts afterwards. He wouldn't have been able to freely be with them anyways with how fucked up he currently was. It didn't keep him from doing anything he wasn't already keeping himself from doing.

_Of course_ he had accepted.

It was scary and not the easiest decision he had ever made; he was entirely conflicted about it and he needed time to process what he had just agreed to, but his subconscious knew it was a given. His hopes laid on him making use of their deal until his goddamn thirst for a challenge was more or less satisfied and things weren't as new and exciting and he could go back to normal.

In his inner anguish, Sanji almost smirked. Every single time he had bowed to going back to normal when Zoro was involved had ended up in failure. He let out a strangled cough. It was unnerving. He couldn't begin to understand himself.

He almost pitied Zoro. With how frustrated he was about the whole situation, Zoro would have to play container for his stress a lot and often. Just not tonight. He couldn't deal with it tonight. He was still coming to terms with it; he couldn't drag Zoro into this when Sanji was this highly conflicted. It would be unfair.

His gaze ended up falling on a pile of discarded weights.

Amongst the turmoil of difficult thoughts, regrets and wishes swarming his head, one particular memory pushed its way forward at the sight.

_"Out of curiosity… where did you end up hiding the lube?"_

_"What?"_

_"Was the question difficult, moss for brains?"_

_"Crow's nest. Behind a pile of training tools nobody ever moves. Why?"_

_"Simple curiosity. I was wondering if you had thrown it away or not. You sure looked like you wanted to."_

Sanji narrowed his eyes at the pile of training tools, berating his own train of thought and inviting it to _stop_.

_"Planning on using it, blondie?"_

_"Absolutely not."_

He scrunched his eyes completely shut, fists tightening in anger.

No.

He didn't _need_ to check if it was there.

He stared at it again, accusing. Why had he even asked again? Did he need to know where it was? No. Did he need to see it for himself now? Absolutely not.

He cursed himself when his legs grew a will of their own and walked him towards it. He cursed himself out loud when his hands started rummaging through it with an intent his brain didn't share.

"Fuck," he muttered when he found it and stood there, bottle in hand, staring at it with slightly wide eyes.

He squeezed them again, a small wave of panic taking over him because _no_.

He was so full of shit.

_"Planning on using it, blondie?"_

No.

No. It was bad enough as it was.

He needed a break. He was overthinking things. He was…

What was he even doing? What did he even _want_?

He heard a faint click and his whole body froze with a tremor, heart stopping in place with a painful knot.

"… cook?"

No.

His eyes lifted towards Zoro with alarm. When had he even come back in?

The swordsman was standing there, right in front of the trap door with his arms to his sides and his good eye so wide it was threatening to fall from his face. His expression was so utterly bewildered and… and what? Intense didn't cut it right. There was something else to it.

It made Sanji's spine shake. Out of pure panic. He tried to form words, but they didn't come out right. He wanted to drop the bottle and forget it existed, but his hand was clutching it so tight it hurt.

Zoro's eye flickered to the bottle for a second too long before landing on Sanji's face, and then he realized something had changed in the way he was staring at him. Whatever that was, it made Sanji's skin crawl.

The space between them boomed with tension, and Sanji was physically ready to flee, but his feet kept him planted on the ground, afraid to move and trigger whatever was about to be triggered in Zoro.

_Fuck._

"Go back to sleep," he muttered, shamefully weak.

Zoro's stare hardened and something similar to determination bloomed in it.

"No."

**TBC**


	44. Chapter 44 - Stupid

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* * *

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**Chapter 44**

**Stupid**

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* * *

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Sanji growled, his whole body tense. There was anger slowly and progressively masking the sheer panic that had just hit him, which was great in terms of what a façade should do but was terrible for his stomach and self-control.

"I told you to leave," he chewed out, unable to do anything but stand there with his guard up and his nerves entirely fried.

"And I said I don't want to," Zoro stubbornly replied, his gaze so unwavering it was unsettling and even a bit threatening. It was the kind of stare Zoro pulled when he had read through someone and had a clear objective in mind, the kind of stare he painted in his face when he was about to achieve something.

Sanji gritted his teeth and burst.

"What part of 'I'm frustrated and I'm going to take it out on you' didn't you understand, for fuck's sake?!"

Fuck. He _was_ panicking.

Zoro automatically tensed, more as a preventive measure in case Sanji decided to physically kick him away than as a surprised reaction to his sudden outburst. He had been expecting this. He narrowed his eyes for a second, trying to decide what the best course of action was when Sanji was clearly thinking of ways to get him out of there while he thought of ways to stay by the blonde's side, because he fucking _needed_ it but wouldn't let Zoro help, the stubborn bastard.

"I don't care."

"What do you mean you don't care?! I said I want you out of here, why the hell are you so selfish?!"

Sanji was losing his composure by the second. His hand was still clutching the bottle. He didn't know why he felt so attacked, but he had barely been reigning his anxiety in that night and for the last two weeks, and the current position he had been found in was so fucking _not_ what he was ready to cope with right now… He hadn't felt this cornered in ages.

Zoro was literally snarling at him now.

"Someone needs to be selfish on your behalf since you insist on being so idiotically selfless all the damn time. Fuck."

And Sanji must've really been out of it despite being completely ready to react, because he missed Zoro's first step towards him and consequently lost his whole reaction span. By the time his instincts kicked in Zoro was way too close for comfort. His strong hand got a hold of his arm which he forcefully pressed against Sanji's chest, and shoved him against a wall before Sanji's leg had time to position itself as a barrier between them against Zoro's chest.

Sanji missed a breath as his back hit the wall with a painful thump. It was enough for Zoro to snatch the lube bottle from his free hand.

If he was panicking before, he was oddly and suddenly hit by a flash of something _terrifying_ the moment he lost his grip on what he wanted to keep away from Zoro's reach. It was irrational, but it was an almost choking sensation, and it hit him in the face like a slap as his eyes desperately followed Zoro's hand with the bottle in it, to the point he literally gasped and hysterically fumbled with his free arm in an attempt to get it back and away from the swordsman.

The beginning of a panic attack barely stuck with him for a second, maybe two at most, though.

Before he was done processing the fact that Zoro had gotten a hold of the lube, the swordsman was throwing it away with vice. Sanji's panicked eyes blinked at Zoro's jerky movement and then at his empty hand, and he had to gather his bearings to follow the itinerary of the bottle, which he caught violently colliding against a wall several meters away from them.

Sanji went still, blinking uselessly at the discarded lube as his brain wrapped around acknowledging the fact he didn't know what was going on anymore.

Zoro's fingers were trapped between Sanji's forearm and the blonde's chest, where he had kept the limb pressed in an attempt to diminish his mobility while pinning his upper body against the wall. Sanji had been struggling against him and Zoro's fingertips had started hurting at how much he had been pressing back and squashing them by forcing Sanji's arm where he wanted it, but he sensed the fight slide away by the second; the distance between them and the bottle of lube inversely proportional to Sanji's general bewilderment and resistance. His grip on Sanji was still firm and he was still using it to keep him pressed against the wall, but his fingers caught a breather when he latched onto the opportunity of not having to press back _that_ hard, merely applying pressure to keep him in place.

If he hadn't known Sanji better, he would've thought the arm he was holding so tightly was trembling. But he couldn't tell for sure. He was freaking out and confused himself, so his awareness of his own stress and feelings wasn't particularly great or accurate, but at least his thoughts and intentions and objective were translucent, and he could work with that, so he steeled himself, even as his eye was stuck studying Sanji's face with an attention and intensity that weren't all that justified.

Sanji kept blinking helplessly at where Zoro assumed the bottle he had just thrown away had fallen. It made Zoro want to cradle his face in his hands and kiss the confusion and visible bewilderment away, but that was _stupid _and _ridiculous_, so he discarded the thought like he had discarded the bottle; without second-guessing himself, even when a part of him tried to. None of those things were necessary right now. And as he had been climbing back to the crow's nest, he had bowed to only act on what was necessary tonight. And nothing else. His own desires could chill and wait for a while. Sanji deserved that much.

Sanji's mouth opened and closed several times. Zoro wanted him to look at him, but he didn't force him to. The blonde's neck was so tense Zoro thought it was going to snap, so he waited, patiently but intently. Sanji was trying to talk.

"What…"

That's all he got out as his blinking grew frantic and his arm budged again, forcing Zoro to add pressure once more to keep it still. The physical resistance must've brought Sanji back to reality, because he blinked for the last time, brows furrowing, and he finally stared back at Zoro with wide eyes, the beginning of an angry fit scurrying through his eyelashes.

Better, Zoro thought. Much better than what would've ended up being a panic attack if Zoro hadn't done something _right_ among the bunch of things Sanji was surely assuming he was doing utterly wrong.

Zoro schooled his expression into an unimpressed stare, but Sanji must've read the restrained intensity he was oozing, because his brows scrunched further, confusion back to controlling his features and a tiny bit of hesitation making him swallow whatever he had been going to say. It came back a second later, when he managed to gather himself.

"I don't know what you think you're doing but let go and leave already."

"No."

Sanji was visibly irritated. Still trembling. His arm was trembling. But at least he had his mask on, which meant he was in considerably more control of his own mood and reactions.

"Zoro-"

"Come on," he suddenly blurted, using the grip he had on Sanji's arm to pull at him and get him to walk forward while Zoro took forceful steps back in order to drag him. He found instant resistance, but Zoro's upper-body strength would beat Sanji's on a good day and he was most definitely not having one of those right now; so Sanji stumbled forward and found little success in trying to plant his feet on the floor to stop the march.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

"Come on," Zoro insisted, stubbornly frowning at the most stubborn idiot he had met in his entire life as he yanked at his arm repeatedly to get him to move.

"_What are you doing?!_" he hissed again, whisper yelling because if he didn't at least try to control the volume of his voice he would end up _screeching_.

Zoro yanked harder.

"The deck is still empty."

Zoro was by the trap door now. Sanji was considering kicking him in the face with how harassed he was feeling at the moment.

"So what?!"

"So I'm going to kick your ass and you're going to try to kick mine."

"Uh?"

Zoro opened the trap door with a kick and basically hauled Sanji through the open space taking advantage of Sanji's surprise, letting him fall face first towards the deck.

Sanji yelped and Zoro had to restrain a smirk, but the cook was fast at reacting and he clumsily sky-walked the last half of his fall so that he merely stumbled over his own fast pace when his feet hit the grass, but he still managed to end up standing and uninjured.

Sanji turned around in a whip and stomped one foot to the floor, utterly furious now.

"What _the fuck_ was that?! Were you trying to _murder me_?!" he straight out vociferated at Zoro's descending form. Thank God they had dropped anchor in a deserted beach prudently away from the main harbor, just close enough to get to the main village walking but not enough to grab attention, else he would have definitely dragged some.

Zoro tilted his head back a bit to catch a glimpse of Sanji's face as he carefully made his way down with his back to him, partly in order to show how unimpressed he was with Sanji's hysterics and partly because he wanted to make sure Sanji wasn't launching towards him to break his spine with a kick now that Zoro was in an uncomfortable position to defend himself.

"Stop being a drama queen," he had the nerve to chastise him.

There was a vein popping in Sanji's forehead and Zoro went back to looking at what his own hands and feet were doing as he descended, rather unwilling to see it explode.

"A drama queen?! You fucking threw me _face first_ through the trap door without a warning! Do you even know how high that is?!"

Zoro's feet hopped the rest of the distance to the ground and he patted his pants to get the sweat out of his hands.

"You've survived worse," he muttered, still with his back half turned to Sanji.

"You. Threw me. Face first. Through the trap door. _Against the deck_."

"Well, yes, I got that much."

Zoro turned around with his hands on his hips, pose defying, and faced a _very much_ pissed off cook. He calculated he was three seconds away from trying to rip his head off his shoulders. The only reason he hadn't yet done so probably laid in the fact that he was confused as hell and still trying to process what on Earth Zoro was doing.

"Zoro, you basically _spiked me_ through the trap door."

Zoro made a shooing motion towards him and Sanji gaped at the insulting gesture in utter disbelief.

"Are you even listening to me?!"

"What about you stop complaining and get away from the mast? There's a lot of ass-kicking to do and Franky won't appreciate another mast reparation, so come on."

"Zoro, are you drunk?"

Sanji was so dumbfounded he didn't even think to kick him when Zoro finished cutting the distance between them and spun him around, shoving him in a random direction with repeated pushes.

"No."

"What are you-"

"You know what, we'll get off the ship. Solid ground is safer. For the ship. Franky will appreciate it."

Before Sanji knew what was going on Zoro had kicked his ass. _Literally_ kicked his ass. Sanji tripped and barely held himself against the railing and Zoro used it to grab the back of Sanji's jacket and haul him overboard. Thank God Sanji had cat-like reflexes, else he would've fallen on his face. His feet hit the ground from a considerable height for the second time in less than two minutes and he had to jump backwards several times to catch his balance.

By the time Zoro had landed on the beach sand, Sanji had had enough. If he hadn't been extremely self-conscious, he would have already launched at Zoro. Zoro would have already had to draw his swords. They would already be fighting. And, fuck, Sanji wanted to kick him more than anything now, which was what Zoro was going for, but the last remnants of rationality held him in place right after his leg had lifted five centimeters from the ground, forcing the limb down.

"_No_. We're not doing this," he declared, his tone charged with well-known rage and palms in the air.

It looked like Zoro had managed to press all the right buttons to make Sanji want to fight. Good. He'd have to press harder.

"Are you afraid I'll kick your ass and put your sad skills to shame?"

Sanji pressed his teeth together, fists clenching and unclenching as his arms fell back to his sides.

"Zoro, _no_. We both know how this is going to end."

Zoro took a step forward in a fake nonchalant way. He wasn't nonchalant at the moment, that much was obvious, but he knew how to play his cards and one of them needed to act serene when the other didn't, that's how they worked, and Sanji was too riled up right now to be taking that position despite trying.

He unsheathed his swords without any particular hurry, even though his hands were humming for him to put the blades in action.

He smirked. "With me kicking your ass and putting your sad skills to shame?"

Sanji yelled out of frustration, nothing in particular or remotely intelligible, looking at him like he was bat-shit crazy for playing with him when Sanji so obviously didn't want him to. Zoro wouldn't be too successful denying that particular accusation if it ever came his way out loud.

"_No_! I'm gonna fucking _jump_ you! I just told you I've been dumped, can't you make it easy and not be an asshole for once?!"

Zoro's smirk fell down a bit, but he kept it in place, something darkening his mood. "You never told me you were dumped, though, or did you? As I recall, I assumed shit and you didn't even answer."

Sanji lost track of whatever he was going to yell next and blinked at Zoro in utter confusion because, _shit_. Letting Zoro assume what he wanted and keeping him away from himself out of his own accord under the belief that Sanji had been with someone else was convenient. It was definitely easier to keep himself from falling for Zoro's taunts if those taunts didn't come at all. He didn't know where he had gotten the idea that Sanji _might_ not have been with anyone else, but that's exactly what Zoro was implying, and what his tone suggested.

Sanji freaked out. Again.

Zoro squinted his eye at him for a second, as if considering something, but the look was fast gone and then he was stepping in his personal space.

"Look, we are both grown-up adults and we can both keep it in our pants. And you need a distraction. So, come on, throw me a kick or I'm going to start slicing."

"Zoro-"

"Keep it in your pants, love-cook."

Next thing he knew, Zoro was slicing right where Sanji had stood and Sanji was jumping backwards and already switching to his fight mode. Sanji didn't have much patience, and a direct attack was the last straw before he gave in and his instincts kicked in.

He wasn't a saint. He wanted to fight. Zoro had been pissing him off big time, for no valid reason, but he didn't need one. It probably had to do with the fact that he felt cornered. With the fact that Zoro didn't give a damn when Sanji cared and tried to step back and put some distance before he did something shameful. Or with the fact that he had been found by the man he wanted and _didn't want_ to jump at with a bottle of lube he had vowed to never use in his hand. For a second, or a few, he had thought Zoro would declare he'd had enough with his bullshit and jump Sanji instead, and there would have been little Sanji's rational side could have done to prevent him from responding if that had happened.

No wonder he had panicked. He was still coming to terms with the fact that he had just accepted his relationship – or whatever- with Zoro to be exclusive. He still had to wrap his head around the fact that he couldn't have sex with his beloved women because there was something that hadn't been working for a while. Something his traitorous subconscious told him Zoro could give him. Talk about scary prospects.

So Sanji had tried, by all means, to keep Zoro away for a while and have time to _think_ and accept what was going on and maybe make something sensible out of it instead of feeling constantly confused and like he was being dragged by a current he had no control over. He'd been given a few minutes. A few minutes he had used to search for the goddamn bottle he didn't _need_ to find. That had been stupid. Whatever his subconscious had been thinking, he was pretty sure he had other things to figure out _first_. Then Zoro had come back and his minutes had burned down.

And then Zoro was being ridiculous and dragging him out to fight, out of all things, knowing that Sanji was utterly confused and ready to jump him the moment he rubbed him the wrong way, and he didn't even _care_.

He was throwing kicks out of severe indignation, but Zoro was blocking pretty much everything, and he even had the gall to smirk at times, when one of his or Sanji's blows was particularly nailed. It drove Sanji up the wall.

When a huge rock blew to pieces by his side (he didn't know whose fault that was; everything was a bit blurry and confusing), he was reminded of a similar scene, months ago. Back in The Rock. He blinked as it flashed him, and he found Zoro blinking back, for a second, before resuming.

Zoro had remembered too.

* * *

That's when everything had started, if Zoro thought about it; it had been one of their nastiest fights, and they had somehow managed to end it with that fate-sealing kiss. That had been the switch.

Zoro's stomach churned as he dodged a kick and memories flooded him.

The scene was playing similarly as it had back in The Rock. There was a certain sense of déjà vu. To an outsider, it would've probably looked the same. They were in a deserted beach, near a rocky cliff enclosing it everywhere but at their far right, where the beach continued to a patch of lights that revealed the existence of a village a few kilometers away. If they faced the other way, the layout wasn't particularly different. A huge deal fuller with life, not that they could see it, but it _was_ there; in the sounds around them, in the air. But still. It _looked_ quite the same.

Back in The Rock, Zoro had also attacked Sanji in an attempt to get his mind out of troublesome thoughts, they had also ended up out of the ship, and they had fought all out. That wasn't much different from what had just happened right now.

Just that it was.

Back in The Rock, Zoro had been desperate. Back in The Rock, Sanji had been losing himself to nothing, he had reached the bottom and had planned on staying there, and Zoro had been so desperate to make him come back up that he had totally lost it. He hadn't registered attacking, he had just gone for his head out of pure fury, something gnawing at the back of his mind and telling him that, whoever was there wasn't Sanji. That he might as well be dead if he went down that path. A bit overdramatic, if he thought about it now, but he still remembered the strangling feeling of thinking he was losing who he had learned to realize was his closest nakama. It had been terrible. Their fight at The Rock had been terrible. Both him and Sanji had been lost and desperate, and neither of them had known what they were doing other than letting their frustrations out through a fight that hadn't been properly approached at all.

Right now, though, Zoro knew what he was doing. Right now, Zoro wasn't desperate, just a tiny bit afraid, about a lot of things, but not because he feared losing Sanji. Sanji wasn't lost nor broken, as he had been back in The Rock. Sanji was very much _Sanji_, and he was just confused and stressed, and too selfless for his own good. Zoro didn't need to bring him back. He simply needed to distract him. And it was a simple task, really. That fight wasn't terrible or terrifying. It was challenging and tense, but it was meant to drain said tension away. No one needed to be rescued. They just needed a break; to come back to their antics.

That's what Zoro was trying to do. And he knew _exactly_ what he was doing and for who.

They went all out, but their intent wasn't set on doing harm; it was set on winning that particular match and landing some good hits. There was a huge difference.

So, no, this wasn't like in The Rock.

This was them sorting things out and coping with insecurities the best way they knew how to, and, to them, it was healthy. The memories replayed in their heads, but they were just that, memories. They didn't apply to their current reality. A single kiss had turned their world upside down back then, and it had been all kinds of misplaced frustration-management, but it had led them here. Again, they didn't know where they stood nor were they confident they would handle what was to come how they should, but there was a huge weight put on trust now, and it was mostly blind. Using each other as a crutch to stand up when they stumbled or forcing the other to use them as such wasn't shameful anymore, they just did it, no questions asked.

Sanji must've understood that, because Zoro caught him smiling as they settled in their usual intense fighting pace while the stressed-out and pissed-off blows Sanji had been delivering at first softened and took the form of precision and intensity. Wherever the blonde's head had been since he had come back to the ship, wherever his dark thoughts had been leading him, his whole focus was set on fighting now, and Zoro felt relieved, because that was much better.

Not like The Rock at all, he repeatedly thought, relieved.

Back in The Rock, he had done the first desperate thing that had crossed his mind to achieve something. Bringing Sanji back, it was clear now, but it hadn't presented itself as such a clear justification back in the moment. He had just acted on instinct, and he had been desperate and angry about it. If it had been like back in The Rock, Zoro and Sanji wouldn't be fighting now. If it had been like back then, Zoro would have kissed Sanji senseless the moment he saw the bottle of lube in his hands, he would've jumped him and there wouldn't have been any stopping him: that's what his gut had pulled him to do in a very raw demand. But he hadn't done that. He was learning to handle his own urges, and he was learning to handle Sanji.

Sanji's body thought he needed to get laid, and urgently so.

Sanji thought he needed Zoro to be away for him not to be dragged in Sanji's current mental circus, and so he had pushed him away.

Zoro's body agreed wholeheartedly with Sanji's body, and he would've acted on that if this had happened months ago; back in The Rock, or back at Terevera's stadium's bathroom, where he had acted out of impulse and the need to make Sanji react and open up _somehow_, which had ended up in their first angry hand job, which had been stupid. He also remembered acting on impulse when he handed Sanji the card with an invitation for Dusky Nights, desperate to forget about the kiss, and that was probably the most idiotic thing he had ever done. He had wanted Sanji's mind out of the kiss as much as he wanted to forget about it himself, and he had pushed what he wanted on Sanji assuming that's what he might need as well. Stupid.

But the Zoro right now knew better. If he only focused on what _Zoro_ needed Sanji to act like for him to feel less restless and worried about the blonde, he'd be acting like the selfish bastard that had dragged them into their current situation to begin with. It had taken a long time for him to realize, but he understood now. If he wanted to help Sanji whatsoever, he needed to give Sanji what _Sanji_ needed. Not what Zoro thought he needed out of what his own needs regarding the blonde suggested.

If he thought about it, that's how Sanji had always acted towards him. There hadn't been a single moment when he had indulged him for the sake of indulging him. Sometimes he reached out and it was great, but sometimes he was stern and didn't give Zoro what he wanted but what he truly _needed_, which he was beginning to realize, belatedly.

Just like he had scolded the shit out of Zoro when Zoro had pulled the whole Dusky Nights thing. Just like he had put aside what he may have wanted and had let Zoro suck him off for the first time because that's exactly what Zoro had needed. Okay, that was easily confusable. One might think Sanji had done the exact same Zoro had done when he had attacked Sanji in the bathroom. But it wasn't comparable. Zoro had acted out of his own need to get a reaction out of Sanji. Just like he had back in The Rock when he had started the fight. Sanji had done something different. Sure it was him receiving the blowjob, but he hadn't let him do it until he crossed out all the possibilities of Zoro doing that for the wrong reasons.

Those were poor and few examples.

There were a lot of things Sanji had done for Zoro's sake, and it was about time Zoro started returning the favour. Not the way he thought Sanji wanted it returned, but the way Sanji truly needed it to be returned.

So no, he hadn't jumped him, despite both their bodies suggesting that might be good for both.

What Sanji needed was a fight. Sanji needed to return to basics when everything familiar to him crumbled around him and left him filled with uncertainty. He needed a reminder that Zoro wasn't just sex. A reminder that, even as everything changed, there were things that were _not_ changing. A reminder that Zoro was, above everything else, a crutch and the rival who helped him push forward.

The last thing Sanji needed at the moment, when he was confused with his own sexuality and lack of ability to keep things going the way he had always wanted them to, was to engage some sex-related activity with the person who was the reason why he couldn't do it with others. That may have stated a strong point in his head if Zoro had done it right and made him feel good, but Sanji's will and outlook on things would've been heavily swayed by the sudden change of events and his own deep confusion. It was a dangerous combination.

If by the end of their fight things escalated, just like they had with their first kiss, then so be it, but Zoro wasn't about to use Sanji's moment of weakness in his favour to get an easier yes. He wanted to get his mind off anything that would lead to a wrongly grounded yes, and that's what he was doing. He wanted Sanji to stop worrying and to relax, and to be comfortable and on familiar ground. If, after that, he still wanted it or jumped him like he had warned him he would, Zoro might oblige, if he felt that's what Sanji truly needed and _wanted_. That depended. He'd see.

He received a kick in the jaw and he fell to the ground with a groan, the sand making his fall slightly softer. He took Sanji's proximity as a chance to pull at his ankle and make him fall as well, which ended with Zoro on his back, heaving heavily, and Sanji on his stomach by his side, numbing the pain with a growl and a clenched jaw.

Zoro stared at him as his own chest rose and fell with big inhales and exhales, exhaustion keeping him glued to the sand. Sanji ended up opening his eyes when he felt he wasn't going to groan, and Zoro was met with a pointed glare. Zoro huffed a silent and breathy laugh and Sanji kicked his leg from his laying position, annoyed.

Zoro grinned wider and looked up. They may have been going at it for nearly an hour, Zoro realized.

The sky wasn't pitch black anymore. There were soft and darker purples, and greys, but the stars still shone through it. There'd be oranges and softer blues in a while, and they might see the sun in about an hour or maybe a bit more. Zoro's body was burning hot with exertion, but the chilly breeze that announced dawn coming their way ran across his skin and made it a bit better. The sand beneath him was humid and cool, and Zoro felt like burying in it despite of how annoying it would be to shake it off his clothes afterwards.

He could feel Sanji's ragged breath by his side, vaguely reaching his neck's skin when the exhale was particularly strong.

They had fought hard. But it had been great. And Sanji wasn't oozing stress or panic anymore.

Zoro gave him a sideway glance and found Sanji with his eyes closed and no strain between his eyebrows, merely tired as fuck, but otherwise satiated. It looked like he wasn't going to be jumped after all.

"Whose win was that?" he asked, voice above a whisper.

They didn't need to talk in hushed voices; there was no one else but them in that beach. But it felt fitting. There was an eerie calmness he didn't dare break.

Sanji smiled and snorted through his nose, face still half plastered to the sand and eyes still closed. It made Zoro smile in turn, properly turning his head to stare at the blonde. The few lights still shining in their ship reached them, just barely, and they casted weak and distant shadows across their features. It helped him distinguish the gold of Sanji's hair amidst the darkness of the end of the night.

"Last kick was mine," Sanji supplied.

"It wasn't your best. And I threw you down last."

"You fell first. And yours was a cheap tactic, that's not even a technique."

"How do you feel?"

Oh.

Honest talk again, Zoro thought as he processed his own words. Somehow it didn't unsettle him as much as it normally would. Maybe it was the atmosphere they had sunk in. It made him comfortable, and his tongue looser. Less self-conscious.

Sanji peeled his eyes open and stared at him for a while, thoughtful. It occurred to Zoro that it was weird for him to ask such a thing, but he had probably been acting weird for a while now, so he decided it didn't matter much as long as Sanji didn't start freaking out again assuming God knows what.

There was a long pause, but then Sanji's lips were parting, lazily. "Good."

He looked mildly surprised. Like he couldn't understand how he'd gone from torturing his brain with uncertainty and doubts and stress and self-consciousness and what-ifs to feeling simply content, major frustrations gone.

"Still want to jump me? Do I need to defend myself?"

At that, Sanji laughed, wide and breathy due to tiredness, and Zoro's grin softened to a small smile that was packed with something he couldn't quite pinpoint. Obviously _not_ fond.

"You exhausted the shit out of me, I'm most definitely not even going to try now."

It was said between small streaks of amused laughter, sincere and laid back, and it made something in Zoro's chest twist, because there was _that_ small crinkle in Sanji's nose, and he suddenly wanted to kiss it and-

_What the fuck._

_Dude, calm the fuck down_, he told himself, alarmed in a very sedated way. Any other time he might be freaking out at his own ridiculous thoughts, but he must have been in some kind of zen state at the moment, because it merely struck him as a distant warning bell.

"See?" he poked, an I-told-you-so expression drawn in his face.

Sanji went back to glaring and Zoro restrained a victorious laugh exclusively designed to piss Sanji off.

Silence settled between them, but none of them felt the need to fill it. It was peaceful, and that was fine.

It was a while later when Zoro was overcome with a coughing fit and blood left his mouth, which he realized as he put some distance between the hand he had used to cover his lips with and his face. He frowned at the red spots on it.

He heard Sanji snicker by his side and he redirected the frown to the undeniable culpable of his predicament.

"I'd say I won."

"I think a tooth is moving," Zoro announced as he tonged at his molars without daring to push too much.

"I won," Sanji concluded in return.

Zoro glared. "I managed a cut at your arm, what are you on about?"

"It doesn't hurt. My kick will leave a bigger bruise than the cut your blade managed to inflict."

"This doesn't hurt _either_," Zoro stubbornly replied, as if it counted somehow as a victory.

Sanji laughed again, and Zoro was absolutely relieved. Sanji laughing was great. Even if it made his chest do weird things. That's what he had been aiming for. A carefree enough Sanji who could be able to laugh at stupid things instead of filling his head with useless problems and doubts.

"You know, if Chopper heard us he would be _so_ pissed off right now."

Zoro smirked and turned on his side in a way that looked comically conspiring. "One day he'll lose it. Either he'll strap us to our beds or he'll confine us in a mental institution and abandon us there."

Sanji laughed harder, and the whole conversation was stupid and didn't even have a point, but Zoro found himself mirroring Sanji's mirth.

"Do you think Luffy will go down first, or us?"

Zoro pretended to give it some thought. "That depends on the degree of Luffy's stupidity, I'd say. Like, we, combined, are a pain in the ass, but Luffy on a bad day can give Chopper a heart attack."

"Mmm… he's been quite tame lately. We're probably Chopper's main targets then."

"Nah, Luffy's bored out of his mind because we haven't had a good fight in ages. I spar with him to keep him in check, but I give him a margin of two islands before he does something _really_ stupid."

"Break-half-of-the-town stupid, or eat-all-the-island's-food-supplies stupid?"

Zoro barked a laugh.

"Hold the fuck up, when did we turn into goddamn gossips?" Sanji started, feigning shock.

Zoro tried to stifle his laughter with a snort. "That's hardly gossiping. More like sure-to-earn-us-a-win betting."

"We're ruthless," Sanji declared, staring at Zoro with a mock self-despising expression.

"The worst."

"I bet on both. Combined."

Zoro snickered. _Snickered_. God.

This was the most stupid conversation they'd had to date, not only because of the topic (they'd had _way_ worse), but because of how they couldn't seem to stop laughing at everything.

So stupid.

They went on for a while, talking about nothing in particular and laughing for no particular reason. It died down after a while, the sound of the ocean moving near them lulling them a tad.

Zoro had closed his eyes, but he wasn't sleeping. He opened his healthy eye when he heard shuffling beside him, and he found Sanji sitting up by his side with his legs crossed, his expression serious again. Zoro waited, gave Sanji time to say whatever he wanted to.

"Eh, Zoro…"

"I'm awake," he announced, noticing Sanji hadn't been looking at his face and so he didn't know Zoro was watching him.

Blue eyes met his. The sky was a bit lighter, dawn painting everything around them in mild colors that were to become more vibrant as time went by. Sanji's blue was veiled by the general dimness, but he still distinguished it. He figured if he was to look at the ocean right before the sun started tinting it orange, it would be painted with the exact shade of blue Sanji's showed at the moment. Sanji's eyes matched the ocean, Zoro thought. At all times. They changed, like the ocean did. It was soothing to watch.

Sanji seemed to think twice, but he ended up opening his mouth anyway.

"Uhm, about the lube-"

Dread.

Zoro clenched his jaw and interrupted him in the most nonchalant and unaffected way he could muster, as if Sanji was about to say something stupid. He ignored the free fall his stomach went through. Pointedly.

"Yes, yes, I know. We're not using it. You don't need to justify shit, cook, stop worrying."

Silence.

Stupid. Zoro was stupid. Everything was stupid. He should've gone back to the ship the moment he had made sure Sanji was back to being fine.

At least he had sounded convincing.

And, _what the fuck_. He didn't have the right to be disappointed. Sanji could do whatever the hell he wanted and Zoro had no right to complain. He didn't regret not having taken the opportunity where his chances of a yes would've been higher. He didn't want to drag Sanji out of a panic attack through that. That would've been… not what Sanji deserved.

And it… it was enough.

Okay, no, who was he trying to fool. Most of the times he and Sanji did stuff together he felt great, but there was always the lingering feeling that he wanted more. That he needed more. That wasn't going to go away; it was similar to the itch that had brought him to blow Sanji for the first time. Persistent and very present. But he didn't have the right to ask for more and he wouldn't, knowing that Sanji didn't want to.

It was fine.

Their encounters didn't feel like enough, but they were great.

And now… now had _actually _been enough. He hadn't touched Sanji like that, but Sanji had laughed and he had stopped looking distressed and that… _that _was enough. That was good and more than enough, Zoro thought.

He'd deal with his own physical needs when they came rushing. He didn't need to consider that now, as he accepted Sanji's repeated refusal in the blonde's name, dismissing it like it didn't make something settle wrong in his stomach.

Sanji stared at him, quiet. It took him a while to respond.

"Okay."

Okay.

See? It was okay.

Zoro wasn't comfortable anymore. He abandoned his position and went back to laying on his back so that he wouldn't be directly staring at Sanji but at the sky. There were softer blues now. He didn't want to look at the ocean. He'd see the same colour Sanji's eyes had shone with as they agreed nothing else was going to happen.

They were doing plenty, Zoro told himself. It's not like Sanji wasn't enthusiastic or didn't leave him breathless. So… so what? What did Zoro want beyond that? Sex, he thought. But he realized that that answer wasn't complete.

What did he want?

_I want to have him_.

Zoro blinked at the fading stars, fast and jerkily, as the thought hit him.

Have him.

He couldn't help it when his hands lifted to cover his face. He didn't emit a sound nor did he look particularly frustrated, at least not to an outsider, but Zoro felt helpless.

Have him.

He smiled bitterly against his hands. Sanji couldn't see his face through his hands, so it was fine.

Have him.

How stupid.

Stupid.

_Stupid_.

That was just stupid.

What a way to put it his brain had come up with. 'Have Sanji' instead of 'fuck him'. It sure made him sound like loser.

"Zoro."

Zoro wanted to groan. He sighed against his hands and dragged them away from his face, ever so reluctantly.

It took him a while and a lot of effort and 'get your shit together's for him to stare back at the blonde, who was in the same position he had been in when he last looked at him. The sky was even brighter. Light blue and fading stars everywhere. Still no oranges. They'd come soon. Sanji sure had given him time alone with his thoughts.

"What?" he encouraged him when he saw him doubting.

He mentally slapped himself into normalcy. He was a grown man and it was simply lame to take a 'no, we are not going to fuck' this badly, so it was time for him to get over this whole stupidity and act like the adult he was. He wasn't going to look or act disappointed. He was going to be collected and… normal. Whatever normal was.

Have him.

How stupid could he get?

"Don't jump into conclusions."

Zoro frowned at Sanji, a bit at loss at what Sanji was on about.

"That tends to lead to people jumping into conclusions."

"Which is stupid, because it means that they shouldn't."

_Stupid._

Zoro couldn't help a light smile that threw Sanji a bit off balance, because he wasn't sure what Zoro was smiling about.

"What were you going to say?"

Sanji went silent again, and Zoro thought he saw him biting the inside of his cheek, which was a rare anxious gesture on Sanji. God, don't let him go all moody and freaked out again.

"Say… have you actually thought about doing it?"

Zoro's eye went wide. Almost out of its socket. He had heard variants of that question before, but they had been muted and played off as nothing afterwards. This time Sanji's voice had sounded nervous, but it had been loud and clear, a telling sign that he wasn't going to pretend he hadn't asked.

His stomach dropped and his chest twisted and his mouth went dry. What the fuck? Sanji couldn't be that cruel.

"Uh…"

Genius answer.

Zoro groaned at himself and sat up fast and clumsily, feeling sand fall off his body and hair as he did, then fixed Sanji with a pointed stare.

"Where does that come from?"

Sanji was… blushing? No, he couldn't be. It was still rather dark; he was imagining things. He did look utterly uncomfortable, though.

"You haven't answered my question."

Zoro steeled himself and his sudden nervousness and planted his stubbornness deep in the ground. He wasn't going to back down on this one.

"Nor will I until you answer mine."

Sanji went from staring at the tips of his nails to staring back at Zoro, slightly fidgety but visibly getting a hold of himself.

"I was…"

He cut himself, back to thinking.

_Considering it?_ Zoro wanted to supply. But he didn't want to put words in Sanji's mouth.

"I was thinking… hypothetically. If we were to, uh, do it-"

"Have sex."

Sanji glared. He was annoyed at Zoro for interrupting but especially at himself for acting like a pansy about it. Enough is enough. "Have sex. If we were to have sex, how would it work?"

Zoro looked at him, from visible eye to invisible one, his own wide and his brain unhelpful. He was careful when he spoke.

"Nami went through a whole _class_ on-"

"That's not what I meant. If we were to have sex, who's supposed to do what?"

Well, that had been straight forward. Zoro blinked at him. At total loss. Completely confused. Heart banging in his chest.

"Are you asking who tops and who bottoms?"

Okay, now Sanji _was_ blushing. Not even the remaining darkness could conceal it.

"Yes."

"…okay."

Sanji snapped. "Okay what?"

"Uh…"

Way to go, Zoro.

The swordsman ran a hand through his hair, staring at Sanji with a bewildered eye and then at the ground and then back at Sanji.

"Okay… I mean- that was sudden."

Sanji scowled.

"Forget it."

He was going to stand up; Zoro had been staring at Sanji's bent legs and he saw the tension in them as he prepared to do just that, but Zoro was fast and he grabbed at his arm before he could try, forcing himself to put his own thoughts in order.

"Wait!" he let out. "Wait."

_Pull yourself together, pull yourself together, pull yourself together._

He forced his eye to land back on Sanji, who was starting to look pissed off. In all fairness, that conversation was bound to be tricky. There was no way they could have made it go smoother.

Okay, enough of this bullshit.

_Get your shit together, Roronoa._

"Does that matter?"

Well, great. It obviously did to Sanji if he had asked. Zoro wasn't good at talking.

Sanji frowned harder and was about to say something, but Zoro interrupted him, processing his thoughts before voicing them out loud.

"Okay, honest answer. I want to top. I haven't… actually thought about bottoming at all. It never crossed my mind, but, I mean, if this is about experimenting, then I'm not dismissing that… as a possibility."

There was something in Sanji's gaze he couldn't pinpoint, and Zoro felt suddenly nervous at his reaction. Sanji sighed.

"Figures."

Zoro clenched his jaw. This wasn't going to go well.

"And you?" he asked, as if there was a chance he'd get Sanji to say he had always dreamt of bottoming.

Sanji didn't really doubt when he answered. "I want to top."

A small defeated smile darkened Zoro's face, but it wasn't accusing or disappointed. It was rather accepting. He had expected this.

"Figures," he muttered.

He hadn't meant to sound deflated. But he was.

"I could bottom."

He hadn't meant to say that either, he realized. He didn't actually register saying it until he saw something similar to shock dawn on Sanji's face, his blue eyes wide.

"I mean-"

"No, no, no. It was a stupid question, forget I ever asked," Sanji suddenly blurted, standing up despite Zoro's best efforts to stop him.

Zoro lost his patience.

"It's not a stupid question."

Sanji stopped in his tracks but didn't turn to look at him.

"You asked if I had thought about doing it. Well, I have. It never occurred to me being bottom, and I still want to top, but we can talk around this if you're really so against me topping."

"I am not-"

"Oi, look at me when you're talking," Zoro demanded, standing up and following him.

Sanji frowned at nothingness but ended up turning around, a bit fiercer than he had been before; Zoro's commanding tone had made him bolder in turn. Good.

"I am not opposed to you topping. I'm opposed to me bottoming."

"The difference?"

"That I wouldn't bottom for anyone in a billion years but I may for you if we… uh, _really_ feel like it at some point."

Turn for Zoro to blush. _Hard_.

"…okay?"

"Stop saying okay when you don't have a clue what to say. It's annoying."

"This conversation is absolutely awkward."

"Yes."

"Okay."

Silence.

They were staring at each other, their guards up, waiting for the other to say something without much luck. Zoro ended up breaking their quietness, restless.

"So I take it you have considered… doing it."

"Having sex," Sanji corrected in the same annoying manner Zoro had done so a few minutes ago.

Zoro didn't know why, but that made a disbelieving smile appear in his face, part of the tension leaving. Sanji gifted him with a small mocking smirk. Not too wide or relaxed, but it was there.

Zoro shrugged his shoulders, hands facing the sky.

"Have you?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe?"

Sanji kicked the sand, trying to look laid back. He half succeeded.

Zoro noticed he hadn't been smoking for a long while now. It struck Zoro as strange.

"I'm not sure," Sanji admitted. "It's just that, at times, it doesn't feel enough. And if this is going to be exclusive, then… I don't know. I was just thinking about it. It was just a thought."

Just a thought.

"Okay."

Sanji raised his gaze and frowned at him.

"Stop with the 'okays'".

Zoro smirked, but he sensed Sanji's uncomfortableness. And he felt his own. That conversation couldn't be extended for much longer without one of them snapping at something stupid.

"Want to talk about it another day?" he offered.

"I don't really want to talk about it at all."

Zoro snorted. "Sure, you're a man of action."

He received an unforgiving glare in return.

"If it comes up, it comes up. Then… we'll see. If you feel like doing it, tell me. And… I don't know, we'll see what we do about it. I'm not guaranteeing anything. It's just-"

"A thought, yes. Just a thought. Fair enough."

There were oranges now. In the sky, right where it met the ocean, and also across the ocean, like flickers of light on a blue and silver background. Sanji's figure stood against it, slender and strong, defined and _warm_. The timid sunrays drew a halo around his hair, making the contours look blinding, gold. The bastard still managed to hold a light of his own in his eyes. Flickering brightness came from behind and his features were darkened, but _his_ blue stood out startlingly as he stared at Zoro like he felt a bit lost, and a bit relieved. It made his heart miss a beat and start again, sluggishly, and maybe a bit scared. Sanji was unfair, he thought for the umpteenth time.

"How are you so chill about this?" Sanji asked.

Zoro laughed. What else could he do? He wasn't chill. Fuck, he wasn't chill _at all_. He was acting chill, which was within his current capacity, but he was feeling nowhere near chill. Ever since that conversation had started his stomach had been in roller coaster mode and his heart and stomach had respectively jumped and dropped more times than he had cared to count.

He was losing his concentration over _Sanji's image contoured by the sea at dawn_. Who the fuck did that?

He wanted to touch him and kiss his face, had wanted to ever since he had come back to the goddamn crow's nest to find him standing with the lube bottle in hand. Instead he had fought him, keeping his rawest desires at bay for the sake of distracting him. He wanted to have sex with him. Had wanted to fuck him when he had seen him with said bottle. Now he wanted to _have him_. Which was different but not less worrying. Maybe more.

"I am not chill, Sanji," he said in between tired and defeated laughter, slipping Sanji's name because he didn't know how else to get the message across. His voice had wavered, but he pretended not to notice.

He wanted to touch him.

He wanted to touch him so badly.

Sanji looked shocked, bright eyes full of something Zoro couldn't read. He had the feeling Sanji was just now realizing Zoro's inner turmoil: his own self-restraining process, not too different from the one Sanji had tried to inflict on himself when he had come back that night with his head turned into a mess.

And Sanji did that thing where he knew what _Zoro_ needed. Not what he thought he needed or what his body wanted.

"There's this sake I kept in the pantry. I was reserving it for a special occasion, but it seems like Terevera's star drink took the spotlight. Want some?"

Zoro barked another laugh, a bit exasperated, but also partly amused. Sake? Seriously now? After that conversation? After Zoro had all but exposed how much he wanted to have Sanji at the moment?

Have him.

Again with that.

Fuck.

"No?"

"Yes," he sighed, walking towards Sanji as he shook his head at himself. "Yes, I'd like some."

He wasn't expecting it when Sanji grabbed the front of his shirt and kissed him. He tasted like nicotine a bit less than usual. He hadn't seen a cigarette in his mouth since they had descended to fight. He didn't know what that meant, but he kissed back. Sanji was passionate, like he was about everything he did, and Zoro lost his breath in the process.

"Only sake. Nothing else. The others will be coming in no time, and I'm not risking being found with your dick in my mouth."

Zoro sputtered, hands flailing around because _**why**_.

"What?"

Sanji gave him a mocking smirk. "I kinda want to, but now's not the time. So come drink your sake and behave."

"But-"

"But?"

"You can't just say that!"

"Suddenly shy?"

"Fuck, no! But you can't just drop that like that! There's something called boners and-"

"If you pop a boner because of what I just said I'm going to consider you a lost case. How old were you again? Fifteen?"

"Fuck you."

"Not today."

Silence.

They stared at each other, slight awkwardness settling in between them. Those kind of jokes had suddenly become less of a joke and more of a sensitive subject, they both realized.

"Or tomorrow. Or this week. Or for the next year. Don't start getting weird ideas."

Sanji was scrunching his nose, dead serious, and Zoro found back his laughter, but he tried to keep it in, merely letting his shoulders shake.

"Okay," he simply answered, helpless but amused at Sanji's antics.

"Okay."

"Fine."

"This is stupid."

It was stupid. They were stupid.

They got into an argument as they walked back to the ship, kicking sand and getting in each other's space but not starting anything.

Today wasn't the day. They needed a bit of time to process stuff. They were impulsive, but they had time, and they decided to take it, because this was clearly going to go way better if they actually went through all of the changes they were agreeing on and accepted them than if they threw themselves into whatever they felt like doing when it occurred to them. There'd be time for that, too. But, for today, they had sake waiting for them and the chores of the upcoming day waiting to be tended to, and that was enough, Zoro thought as he felt anxiety subside.

Sanji's figure wasn't painted against the ocean anymore, as he walked by his side, and he was more than definitely staring at his eyes way too much, but that was okay because he wasn't having weird thoughts about it, he was just staring. Staring was fine.

"You're staring," Sanji pointed out.

Zoro blushed and got angry. At Sanji and at himself. Okay, it maybe wasn't fine.

Sanji instructed for him to go inside and get started with the sake while he smoked a cigarette on deck, but Zoro stayed behind and waited for him. They saw the sun peek at them from behind the horizon, and the sky turned into an amazing burning palette he could never be able to narrow to just a few colours.

Sanji was saying something, in that lazy way he commented random things when they'd had a good fight and he felt tired and satiated, and Zoro was half listening, but he was also back to staring.

_Have him._

Could Sanji be 'had' at all? Zoro didn't think so. He didn't remember when he'd harbored a streak of possessiveness, but he didn't properly recognize it as such as he felt it, so he didn't dwell much on it. There'd be time to analyze that too. And he probably wouldn't even bother trying unless it got annoying.

He opened his mouth to say something, he didn't know what, but words got stuck in his mouth and neither him or Sanji got to know what he had been trying to convey. Sanji waited, curious and slightly teasing, but it didn't come out. Zoro had no honest idea of what his mouth had been trying to make him say.

_You are beautiful._

It hit him.

Like a slap.

It was an innocent thought, but as Sanji looked back at him and tilted his head in question, Zoro was convinced that was what he had been about to say. It made his heart hammer in his chest, scared. The first time he had thought that, he'd been drunk. The second time he had thought that he hadn't been drunk, but he'd been in a… compromised situation with the blonde. What excuse did he have now, as he watched the sunrise by the blonde's side, two or three feet worth of distance in between them?

"Earth to Zoro," Sanji teased, mocking smirk in place. "Still thinking about your dick in my mouth?"

Zoro almost jumped in his spot.

"Cook! _For fuck's sake_-"

"Sanjiiiiiiiii!"

Zoro blinked at Sanji as the blonde looked behind him towards the beach, neck craned. Thank God.

"That's our captain for you," Sanji announced, although Luffy didn't need to be announced. "Fuck, he's hungry. I can hear it in his voice," he lamented. Then looked at Zoro like a man who had lost his soul somewhere in the way. "Your sake will have to wait."

He was palpably distressed. Luffy after a night out was no joke. It left Sanji wanting to hibernate by the time Luffy accepted a 'no' as a valid answer to his 'Sanji make me more foooooood' whines.

"What a sad turn of events," Zoro deadpanned.

Sanji pointed at him threateningly, and Zoro felt a smirk tug at his own lips. "Restrain him. With everything you have. I need to be able to cook in peace if I'm going to survive this morning."

He sounded like a man ready to go to war. Zoro felt the urge to laugh at him, but he knew not to. It was bad enough as it was. He could hear Luffy's yelling approaching.

"I was planning on taking a nap," he dismissed. "We haven't really slept at all."

"Your plan is invalid. Go restrain him."

"In exchange of what?" Zoro teased, trying to ease the fright he had given himself with his own thoughts before Luffy had interrupted everything.

"Your dick in my mouth."

"_Sanji, for fuck's sake!_" Zoro groaned in exasperation as he threw his hands in the air. "Can you not?!"

"Don't start going all prudish on me. You have _no shame_ when we are at it: so you don't have the right to be embarrassed when we talk about it."

"That's stupid," was Zoro's best retort in his lacking arsenal. He had been overusing that one.

How many things were stupid today?

"Restrain him. And I'll stick to my promise."

Zoro was left standing alone in the deck, gaping at Sanji's retreating back and then at the galley's closed door.

What had that been?

Fuck, he could be asking that about every single thing that had happened that night. Where had things gone? How had they gotten there? What the fuck had happened and where were they standing right now?

If Sanji got into the habit of joking about that Zoro would be pretty much fucked. Was he joking or not?

And what the hell was wrong with him? Since when did he analyze colors like his dream was to become a fucking poet? Since when did Sanji's eyes drive his attention this much?

... Since always. They had always been attractive, and they had always demanded attention. Zoro had been trying to figure out the goddamn color of those irises way before he'd started thinking about Sanji as beautiful. Since before they had started fooling around.

Zoro sighed.

And then broke into a sprint when he saw Luffy's head popping from behind a railing, ready to attack the galley like a starved man. Zoro violently tackled him to the ground two meters away from the door, and a fierce battle followed.

"Zoro, I swear to God!" came Sanji's threatening voice from inside his kitchen the moment he heard the ruckus and sensed the danger way too close to his kitchen.

"I'm trying!" he roared at the nearest wall.

"Try harder!"

Luffy was yelling like mad in his ear and kicking and trying to get to the galley while wailing Sanji's name at full volume, demanding food for the next three hundred years because he was starving and he was dying, and _Sanji please give me food_.

Zoro wasn't paid enough for this, he thought when he received an accidental punch in the face.

He raised his head and found the rest of his nakama slowly congregating on deck, still half-drunk but mostly ready to fall asleep face first. They watched the scene unfold, but they didn't move an inch. Someone was laughing. Usopp. Fucking Usopp. Zoro glared at every single one of them, done with everything and everyone and _Sanji_.

_Fucking cook._

"Someone going to help?" he demanded, sarcasm lost in the pissed-off tone he pronounced the question with. There was a blowjob in the line, so he sure as hell needed that help, but he could hardly announce that for everyone to hear. Chopper might faint.

Speaking of which.

"Is that blood in your mouth?" Chopper asked, voice low and deadly.

"Ah, damn, sorry Zoro!" Luffy perked up, diminishing his struggling session and looking at Zoro's blood-tinted lips with an honest apology in his eyes.

Zoro tasted the blood in his mouth. It had been there for a while, faint but present. Then he felt a solid form moving against his tongue. Next thing he knew he was spitting out a molar to the ground and stared at it in mild disbelief. Well, Luffy had finished Sanji's job.

"Oh my God I am so sorry-" Luffy started spluttering. Someone had let him drink alcohol, Zoro could smell it. Why did they still let him drink alcohol? Luffy should be kept away from alcohol.

"It's fine. It was already moving, the cook had already kicked here before-"

"_I swear to God_."

Zoro froze as Chopper's deadliest voice reached his ears.

Well, fuck.

**TBC**

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**A/N:**

Thank you so so much for your amazing comments, they keep me writing even when I feel I'm stuck!

Someone said people would get mad if they didn't do the do in this chapter given how the last one had ended... oh, well! *hides behind bushes* ...have mercy on me? *flashes disarming smile* ... nah? OMG I'm so sorry, don't kick my ass I swear it will come eventually! Sooner than my slow-pace writing might make you believe ;)

I love you all a lot and I'm amazed at how nice you are and at how much love you show for this story, I hope you like this chapter too, and the ones that follow! :)

I'm a disaster when it comes to answering comments, but I promise I'll try! There are also comments I can reply to and some that I can't? Or I don't know how to? Like, there are some comments left under the name of Guest which I can't figure out how to reply :( I suck at technology I swear, meh

With that being said and after mentally sending you billions of thank yous... does Zoro have a crush?

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**Hell yeah.**


	45. Chapter 45 - Yes

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**Chapter 45**

**Yes**

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"Where do you think is the All Blue?"

Zoro directed his gaze at Sanji and found him staring at the sky with a thoughtful look in his face. It couldn't be seen right above their heads, since right above their heads there was only ceiling, but the windows around the crow's nest were big enough to let moonlight in and to allow them to see the stars if they opened them wide.

Sanji was staring through one of them, sat right in front of it on the bench and peeking his head outside every now and then. Zoro had started to learn it was Sanji's favourite window, although he couldn't see a reason to it. He simply had a thing for sitting in front of that one in particular when he wanted to look outside. That insignificant piece of information about the blonde stored in Zoro's head spoke volumes regarding how much time they spent together in that room. And also about how much Zoro stared at Sanji, but Zoro wasn't going to take that variable into account.

"I wonder," Zoro answered, carefully and softly, because they were talking about Sanji's dream and Zoro knew people's dreams deserved to be cradled with utter care and respect.

Sanji smiled, softly too.

It had been about a month since they had agreed on keeping their relationship exclusive and they had left the possibility open of them going further than they had already when it came to sex. Nothing of the kind had happened, but things had changed.

They didn't tiptoe around each other as much anymore. Frustrated days and streaks of bad mood following each other's escapades with other people had come to an end. For how generally angry Zoro had been feeling before their last agreement, and for how much he had been inclined to end their initial one in order to avoid the increasing and unnecessary hurt and frustration it brought with it, he was now happy he hadn't finished it.

Things were good.

They were both in a considerably better mood and had naturalized their encounters to the point where they didn't make them overthink and stress their minds over it. It had been difficult at first, with Sanji. There had a lot of things he had to come to terms with (read Sanji accepting the fact that he was exclusively having sex with _a man_, that the man was _Zoro_, that he had agreed _not_ to have sex with _women_ and that he had been unable to engage in it way _before_ he had agreed on that), and Zoro knew it, so he had been careful and he had given him space.

The thing is, when Sanji wasn't beating himself up about something in particular (The Rock had been an example of him doing just that and blowing things out of proportion), he was rather good at relativizing things to the point they were more of a buzz at the back of his head than an actual headache. Else he would've never gotten into a deal with Zoro to begin with. If he had actually paid attention to everything his usual beliefs screamed at him, he would've felt horrified that he was having that kind of relationship with a man, simply because he had never felt attracted to any and he had never thought he would be (there was a huge factor playing there as well, which was the trauma he had gone through while he spent two years constantly chased by thirsty okamas), and so he would've backpedaled from that first kiss. The fact that he had balanced the pros and cons and had actually reached the conclusion that he was fine with that convenient arrangement from quite the beginning despite everything he had always assumed of himself was telling enough of his capacity to do that.

So, all in all, Sanji pushed himself into an attitude the least problematic possible, accepting the fact that he had accepted the way things were now and that, for now, he was fine with it and he didn't need to give himself a migraine overthinking stuff, not when Zoro was willing to get on his knees for him more often than not.

That left the sex question to deal with. Ever since they had agreed they could go further if they truly felt like it, the possibility had been looming above their heads every time they had an encounter together. On the one hand it made whatever they were doing ten times easier and way less embarrassing, since they knew that was hardly _all_ they could do and so they grew bolder.

That, in many aspects, was great _and_ inconvenient. Zoro was quite shameless per se but, in the last few weeks, he had discovered he truly didn't give a fuck, much to Sanji's mortification sometimes.

Sanji would be cooking, ten minutes before everyone was to gather for sharing their meal, and Zoro would barge in, leave the door closed but unlocked and go down on him and either finish him off two minutes before everyone came in so that Sanji didn't have time to make himself presentable or finish the goddamn meal, or would leave him hanging the moment he heard footsteps coming; which ended up with Sanji hiding behind the counter as everyone sat down because he had a raging boner and no way to calm himself down.

Once Zoro had done that a few times and left with a smug smirk, they were back to playing again. They played a lot and they got each other back and they truly had no shame whatsoever, but they made sure they were never found out, although it would be rather expectable if they had raised suspicions by now. No one commented on it.

It was also a dangerous knowledge, though. Knowing that they _could_, every time they grew desperate with each other in the middle of fooling around there was a pause, a tense moment in which either both or one of them considered taking it further. But Sanji looked more unwilling than the other way around, in Zoro's opinion, so they ended up doing something else, aggressively so, until they half-scratched the itch pushing them together and calmed it down for a while. It was frustrating and it left them full of that familiar feeling yelling at them that it wasn't enough, despite how good it felt.

None of them pushed it. There were tense moments and meaningful stares all along, but they always left it at that. A lot of times they weren't even in the crow's nest and so the lube wasn't available and Sanji wasn't about to use cooking oil, and the times they _were_ in the crow's nest and knew the lube was near, they were a bit more on edge and wary because of it, so they never actually proposed using it.

There was a huge weight put on what they'd be doing and who would be doing what. It was easier to avoid the situation altogether than to try to discuss it seriously when both of them wanted to be on top and knew it.

There had been moments where Zoro had been so turned on and willing that he had been about to offer to bottom. But he hadn't done that. That way it would sound like a concession he did for Sanji, like being bottom was grasping the short end of the straw, which it _wasn't_. It was a matter of preference, not a matter of what was better or worse for their pride, because pride shouldn't have _anything_ to do with their position. He wanted to top, and he didn't mind bottoming, but he wasn't about to offer it in _exchange_ of Sanji accepting to have sex with him because there was something fundamentally wrong about that idea in Zoro's head. If they were both willing to try, _then_ they could discuss and talk about it, but Zoro wasn't about to make the offer of bottoming his trump card. If they were _both_ discussing it and both equally willing to try to have sex with each other, then he could and would probably offer. But not before that. Not to grant a conditioned 'yes'.

So he let it be.

There would surely come a time when they both wanted it and they could _talk_ about it instead of trying to _convince_ the other. There was a difference and, to Zoro, it was important.

Asides from that, the amount of time they spent with each other had increased. They knew they ignited more easily now, and they knew they were tempted to jump the other more often, so they spent a lot of time in the crow's nest or the galley, away from the rest for prevention, so that if something was started it would happen away from the crew.

A lot of times nothing _actually_ happened. Sanji would be cooking and Zoro would be napping with his head on the table, and then maybe he'd jump Sanji ten minutes before lunch in order to make his life difficult; but for the two previous hours they had spent sharing the same space, they would do nothing but chat a bit, bicker, or coexist in silence.

It was something they used to do before, minus the fooling around part. And by before, they meant before the kiss that had started it all. Contrary to popular opinion, Sanji and Zoro had always sought each other's company quite a lot, from pretty much the beginning. A lot of times it was in order to kill time, which they did by arguing. Other times it was simply to share some much needed silence amidst that loud crew. None of them would talk and sometimes it would even look like they didn't even acknowledge each other's presence, but it was comfortable and they liked it. The amount of times Zoro had sneaked into the galley while Sanji cooked ever since he had met him was extensive: half of those times would end with an argument, the other half with companionable silence while each did their thing.

Ever since the kiss had happened, that had stopped being a thing. Basically because of the fact that they were extremely tense around each other and because they had gone through a considerably angsty phase for a few months. With so much denial going on, despite the deal being on, being completely alone was nerve-wrecking unless they were using hands and mouths, and so companionable silences had become scarce.

Now that their agreement had reached the most stable point it had been in ever since it had started, and now that the major focuses of trouble had been erased and the oppressing limits they had set softened, they were noticeably more relaxed around each other. There were lots they wanted to do, and they did, but there were also a lot of companionable silences and calm conversations. Like in the old days. Not having to watch what they said or did because it had all been talked about and there wasn't much more to hide gave them freedom and peace of mind.

So Zoro was back to sneaking into the galley like he had done for the last few years. What changed were the ratios of the outcomes. One third of the times it would end with an argument, another third with their mouths on each other, and another filled with silence and quiet chats.

There had also been another change, one that also involved the crew. They weren't exactly sure how it had happened, but Zoro's and Sanji's watches had become consecutive and were always set together, one after the other. At first it had been them exchanging watches with the others when they were particularly in the mood to do stuff, but then the board where they kept watches and duties written on had slowly accommodated that new trend. Their duties were either together when teams were involved or one after the other regarding the watches. Zoro wasn't too sure who was in charge of keeping that board updated weekly, but it was obvious someone had gone out of their way to make that happen. Zoro decided not to dwell too much on it. It was convenient.

And so they spent a lot of their time sharing it in the crow's nest. Many quiet afternoons and many sleepless nights. Since their watches were set one after the other, they'd both stay from the beginning, play around a bit and then chill and half-ass their duty. If Sanji had the first watch and they were done fooling around by Zoro's, he would stay for a while and chat sometimes. Sometimes he'd stay there and sleep the rest of the night away wrapped in blankets while Zoro would look out of the window. Other times he'd leave and make himself comfortable in his own bed, if he wasn't too tired to descend from the crow's nest or if he had nothing in particular to share. If it was the other way around, Zoro always stayed. Either he talked to Sanji or slept, but it was quite peaceful and generally good. Zoro was content.

So much time together was bound to lead them to deep conversations. It's not like they hadn't had them before; they had always kind of been there when none of them were in a particularly belligerent mood, especially when they had a few beers in their system and nobody was there to witness their exchanges. Flashes of Whiskey Peak and other many quiet nights dating from the day they met flashed by every time Zoro tried to decipher if those conversations were something new or an actual usual occurrence he had never placed much importance on. He reached the conclusion that they weren't new. That they had missed the habit ever since the kiss, that they were now merely resuming it.

And so here Sanji was, suddenly bringing his dream up at two o'clock in the night under a starry sky reflected through the open windows. Despite their conversations being deep sometimes and actually being a thing, what was different this time was the fact that Sanji was bringing _that_ up himself. The blonde knew his dream was possibly the most naïve among his nakamas'. Sanji had dealt with a lot of shit as a child every time he brought it up. He had been laughed at _so_ much for believing All Blue existed, he had learned to stop to mention it unless directly asked. It was a dream he would fight for, and if you started a conversation about it you'd find him defending its existence with teeth and claws, but he hardly initiated that topic anymore. He didn't need people looking at him with disbelieving or condescending stares, much less someone calling him a fool for it, because he was very much capable of breaking teeth to protect his dream, and All Blue, with his feeble signs of existence, made it hard to defend and all the more urgent to do so, at least to him.

Zoro had seen him talk about it when asked. Had seen how Sanji talked about it to people who actually listened and didn't look at him like he was crazy, like Luffy and pretty much the rest of the crew, and it had always struck him as a special sight, because Sanji tended to look like a child on Christmas and there was a special light in his eyes when he did so. But, then again, that only happened when someone asked first.

That's why he was rather surprised that Sanji had suddenly brought that up. Sure, they had brought one of Terevera's bottles upstairs and were drinking enough to not be exactly sober, but it was still not where Zoro had thought their interactions would go that night.

Okay, no, that was a lie. What was surprising was Sanji being _willing_ to bring the topic up to _Zoro_, not that the topic had been on the table for Sanji to bring up to start with. It wasn't random nor did it come from nowhere.

A few days ago they had fished a huge fish none of them had ever seen. And Sanji had practically jumped around the ship in excitement because, after close inspection, he reached the conclusion that it matched the descriptions few of the tales and songs about the All Blue contained when talking about a particular species of fish there were there. Sanji had been so exhilarated it had almost been funny to watch. Of course, Luffy had started to ask him about other species they hadn't yet encountered which would certainly be in the All Blue because that sea was supposed to contain them all, and Sanji had been going on and on about fishes and supposed marine life in the All Blue for days every time someone asked or showed interest. Never when he wasn't directly asked. He knew not everyone could possibly be as excited as him.

Zoro found himself not minding overhearing the rants at all. It was precious, in a way.

At the end of the day, that fish didn't prove anything, though; it wasn't a massive step towards his dream if one was to consider the situation objectively. It was just a fish. And if the All Blue was what it was claimed to be, then finding the species featuring All Blue's tales across the ocean would only be natural, since it was supposed to be home to them all where all waters meet. It wasn't a sign or a direction, it was a fish any of those tales could've used to describe what was to be found in the All Blue, and Sanji knew it. But it still made him happy and he had been thinking about it pretty much every single day since then, at all hours.

Of course the topic would end up being brought up if that's where Sanji's brain went more often than not, recently. It was a matter of time. It's just that Zoro hadn't been expecting Sanji to start that conversation with _him_, but he guessed they did share that kind of trust after all.

"How do you think it actually is?" Sanji asked after a while, turning to him and resting his hands on his crossed ankles, eyes sparkling in that childish way they did when All Blue was mentioned.

Zoro smiled, knowing Sanji was totally immersed in the topic already despite them barely having exchanged two sentences. They had never discussed it extensively before. Sometimes they'd talk about their dreams, but it never went too far, for there were a lot of insecurities attached to them that they didn't want to share with the other. What they usually shared about their dreams were promises that they'd get there. But Sanji looked like he wanted to discuss it extensively now, and Zoro didn't know why it was _him_ he had decided to discuss it with, but he wanted him to do so. Maybe that's why it was so easy for him to humor the conversation.

"Blue."

Sanji deadpanned.

"That's a stupid statement."

"Hardly a lie, though," Zoro replied, smirking at him. "This answer would win me a lot of bets."

"What kind of blue?" Sanji was fast to resume.

Zoro had to control a grin at his tone. It was so eager and excited it almost didn't seem like it belonged to Sanji. He tried not to imagine him as a child, jumping around all excited talking about the All Blue without all the reservations life and cruel people had brought him to have now.

"Bright?"

Sanji considered it and nodded a few times. Zoro considered the fact that Sanji was most certainly a bit tipsy.

"Probably bright. The poems and songs I have heard about it describe it in a million ways, and all of them sound pretty, but I can't really bring myself to imagine it… It's a bit frustrating. I can't even picture it properly. All there is about it are tales."

There were traces of insecurities in that last statement, and Sanji was nervously rubbing the back of his head. Sanji's ultimate fear probably laid on the possibility of All Blue _really_ not existing. On holding an empty dream between his hands, which was not only his but also Zeff's. Sanji had never doubted it was there, somewhere, not once in his life; but he was only working on faith, and sometimes the lack of tangible facts to support his beliefs showed in the way he grew frustrated when he couldn't picture the place he wanted to see the most, although he hardly let that show.

Zoro was able to notice when that happened by now, though, so he nudged him by keeping him talking.

"What do those songs and tales say?"

Sanji stared at him, surprised that Zoro was actually taking an active role in that conversation instead of letting him rant on his own while half-listening. The swordsman actually looked interested, and there was a small smile playing with his lips that didn't remind him of condescendence whatsoever, so Sanji immediately felt at ease again.

He stood up and walked to Zoro, sitting by his side with the wall against their backs, knees bumping. He asked for another glass of alcohol and Zoro granted him half, downing what was left because he didn't want Sanji wasted when he was talking about something so important. Sanji didn't complain; he was too excited about the topic at hand.

"So. There's this one tale…"

Zoro listened. Fully. Sanji went on and on about tales and recited poems to him, going back to paragraphs or words that had caught his attention and drawing parallelisms from different sources that suggested that either the All Blue's ideal was pretty similar to everyone who had ever invented those stories or that it actually existed and someone had seen it. Maybe. No one had ever claimed to. But Sanji firmly believed the last possibility and did a quite comic job of relating everything together to draw a big picture. If he had a board he would probably be sketching around like a mad scientist trying to prove a theory, but he only had his hands, so he moved them around a lot and Zoro tilted his head back every now and then to avoid Sanji smacking him in the face.

The person he had seen Sanji talking about his dream the most was Luffy, on a few occasions, and Zoro remembered Sanji being this enthusiastic every single time; but it was a whole different story to watch from the bleachers and eavesdrop at most than to be the one on the receiving end of the ball of excitement Sanji turned into when he fully talked about it rather than just mentioning it.

Zoro was smiling a lot. Sanji's grin was contagious. So were his eagerness and passion. Zoro went as far as to ask questions, not only to keep Sanji going when he went back to oozing a small amount of doubt whenever he sounded too naïve to his own ears, but also out of pure curiosity and genuine interest.

Despite having earned the fame of being heartless and unmoving, Zoro had always believed people's dreams held a special charm, and despite usually acting detached, he actually enjoyed listening to people talk about them, not as much because of the topic per se but because of the way people's faces lit up with it. But there was something special about the way Sanji's did.

There were different ways people acted about their dreams; Zoro knew, he had seen it.

Luffy was obnoxious and would proclaim it everywhere he went even if no one was willing to listen, for example. His dream showed in his victories and in every step he took towards becoming the king of pirates. It showed in his face all of the times he had been confirmed by people who actually knew what it was that One Piece was out there.

Usopp was full of shit in the way he'd declare it while both pissing his pants and exaggerating every single heroic deed he had ever done, but he needed to be like that. Either he convinced himself boastfully or he'd probably never make it, so he tried hard and had built up a strong confident façade around him to support himself. To him, it was probably more about surpassing himself and getting over his own fears than about others' opinions, and that was admirable in many ways, whatever people may think of his big lies and weak bravado.

Nami didn't talk about it much, she simply worked on it, every single day. Her enthusiasm could be seen not in her words or declarations (which she rarely made) but on the thousands of maps laying around her workplace and multiplying by the day. Those spoke for themselves.

Something similar happened with Chopper. He hardly addressed his dream as such or proclaimed it, but he was always working on new formulas and he always kept them safe and healthy. It was when he managed to treat something difficult and succeeded that his dream could be read in his sparkling eyes, and Zoro found it adorable.

Franky would be a ball of badly hidden hyperactiveness when he did something new to the Sunny and he'd act like a proud father when their ship overcame hardships successfully, and he'd rant endlessly about his new achievements and tools, but he addressed the process more than he addressed the dream per se. In any case, he talked about palpable things and concrete achievements he could actually show to the rest, and the showing did way more than the talking, so the moments when Zoro could actually see what his dream did to Franky were those when he presented them with results.

Robin was rather quiet about it. She never talked about it, never actually shared her discoveries with them unless directly asked or unless it was necessary to do so, since she understood her dream as her own. It showed when she read her books with endless concentration, gathering tangible knowledge, or when Nami would ask her about something she was reading and they'd engage a deep conversation about it, Robin becoming all didactic and intense. It was obvious when she came across a Poneglyph and her usually neutral face turned into an excited one, decidedly ignoring everyone around her and focusing her attention on what was in front of her.

Brook had hardly mentioned it. His dream showed in his patience. He was in no hurry, and the only time Zoro had seen him particularly invested in the topic had been when they had told him they had met Laboon. Asides from that, he waited, and there was a certain sense of calm around him that told them he was certain he'd meet with his beloved whale again, never mind when. It was in that patient calmness that his dream showed.

Zoro's showed in his training, in his meditating, in that thirst for fights of his every time he was met with a challenge. He had learned to be humble about it. He had trained with Mihawk himself and he still didn't consider himself worthy of the title of best swordsman, but he was on his way, and he took steady steps towards his goal. He hadn't seen himself from a third person's point of view, but he was fairly sure his dream showed in his endless determination to be stronger and his crazy efforts to achieve that. It was in his stare and in his challenges, always silent, actions speaking more than words did.

Sanji was different. Sanji had nothing tangible to show in his hands, no palpable signs of him getting any closer to the All Blue, no certainty it actually even _existed_. As opposed to the others, he had absolutely nothing resembling facts or visible results he could rely on. He worked on sailors' tales and a huge dose of unwavering hope and faith. Unless he talked about it, it didn't show. That's why, when he did, it showed _everywhere_ in his face. It showed in his eyes, because what kept him going was hope and his eyes were filled with that to fuel his rants, and there was something special in the way he'd talk about it, oh so carefully but oh so excitedly, like he _knew_ it was out there despite his dream possibly being the least realistic of them all. He nursed his dream into tangibility so much it was overwhelming sometimes. Sanji was generally expressive as hell, but he also liked to keep it cool and controlled. It was rare to see him this open and honest, and it was a bit like a hurricane to the one listening.

Zoro had always found it mesmerizing. And if he had paid attention to his own thoughts a bit more, he may have realized he now found it beautiful too.

"Oh, and there's this song…" Sanji perked up after having talked for a long, long while, not sure if he should keep on ranting or leave Zoro alone, but really wanting to continue.

"What song?" Zoro encouraged.

He was being strangely nice and patient about it, the blonde thought. But, then again, when had Zoro been anything but that when listening to other people's dreams?

Sanji beamed and went for it.

"It's probably the most popular one regarding All Blue. Made by sailors, sung by sailors," Sanji explained rolling one of his hands repeatedly. Then he laughed embarrassedly. "It used to make me cry when I was a kid. The lyrics are legit one of the most heart-touching things I've heard in my entire life."

Zoro chuckled quietly, still surprised that Sanji was sharing that but actually amused. He snorted.

"What a crybaby."

"Shut up. I said when I was a kid. I must've been seven or so, maybe less, and it was only _once_."

"I didn't cry when I was seven," Zoro retorted, teasing. Lies. He did cry. Like any other kid would do. Hell, he cried every single time Kuina won against him. If that wasn't lame…

"Like hell you didn't," Sanji dismissed. "It was justified, though," he tried to defend, because he wasn't about to let his pride be wounded. "I had been made fun of for claiming the All Blue existed, that day. Extensively. The amount of assholes there are in this world is unbelievable. The thing is I ended up crying, and then someone took pity on me and taught me this song to cheer me up, but I ended up crying even more when I heard it."

Zoro laughed and Sanji joined him.

"Which song is it?" he asked.

He had heard a handful of sailors' songs all along his life, especially since Brook had joined their crew, since he seemed to know every single song there was on Earth, so he thought he may have heard it before. Admittedly, there were quite a lot of songs regarding All Blue, all of them fairly sentimental.

"Ode to an Ocean Crossroad," Sanji recited, tilting his head towards Zoro to see if it rang a bell. "It's a few hundred years old. It doesn't specifically say it's about the All Blue, like, the name doesn't even appear there, but everyone assumes it is with everything it says."

Zoro scrunched his nose. "No idea."

"No? It's quite famous."

"Well, I mean, I don't know the title. How does the song go?"

Sanji frowned at him suspiciously. "I'm not about to sing."

Zoro raised a suddenly bemused eyebrow. "And here I was hoping for a beautiful serenade."

Sanji punched his arm and Zoro had to suck a breath because he believed he had just lost sensitivity in that area and it fucking _hurt_. Thank God Sanji didn't punch often. He sure as hell knew how to.

Zoro was still nursing his arm when he thought he heard Sanji actually singing, but when he turned to him he had already stopped. It had been fast and out of tempo, but Sanji had just hurriedly hummed the basic melody of the song in that way people do when they want to get someone to recognize a song but aren't all that fond of singing and would skip it if they could, if he wasn't mistaken.

"Come again?"

Sanji scowled, embarrassed. "No."

"I didn't get it."

"You are asking for a kick."

"Then say the lyrics. I want to judge if it's worth crying for or if you're just weak spirited," he teased.

Sanji considered it but he ended up letting the lyrics flow in an attempt to make Zoro recognize it, which he inadvertently ended up filling with a sing-song tone that vaguely followed the actual melody. He wasn't properly singing as to showcase his voice, he was merely following the melody by bits of lyrics, falling into halts and hurrying parts every now and then. There was a particularly emotional part he actually took the time to dramatize with his hand extended in front of him like some famous singers would do, which made Zoro laugh and helped Sanji be a little less embarrassed, since he was basically making fun of himself while he was at it and that was definitely less mortifying than seriously singing an emotional song to Zoro.

At first, Zoro was decidedly amused and trying not to laugh in Sanji's face or mock him. The melody did ring a bell, but he didn't tell him, shaking his head every time Sanji paused and sent him a questioning glance as to ask if he had remembered yet, forcing him to continue half-singing parts of it. Then the lyrics hit him, and with them did the underlying fond Sanji's tone evoked when pronouncing those words, and Zoro began to _properly_ listen.

He couldn't help but imagine Sanji as a kid, sat in a corner and crying because adults were sometimes horrible and they had just treated his precious and fragile dream like trash, invalidating it like most of the people around him did. He then imagined Sanji hearing that song, actually sung and not only hummed. Sanji wasn't currently sticking to a rhythm, more out of embarrassment than out of lack of capacity (Zoro had heard him actually sing around bonfires and the bastard _did_ have a good voice), but Zoro could still tell that the melody was meant to be emotional.

And Zoro understood why Sanji had cried. Wouldn't make fun of him if Sanji was to admit he had cried more than once to that, although he doubted the cook had let himself do that ever since he had learnt to get a hold of himself.

Those lyrics were _everything_ a dreamer like Sanji could imagine the All Blue to be. The finesse and delicacy of the poetry they formed was touching and heart-felt, like Sanji had warned him it was. Those lyrics couldn't have been written by just anyone. They _had_ to have been written by someone as smitten with All Blue as Sanji was. Those lyrics made whoever listened to them _want_ to believe the All Blue existed. And they made Zoro's skin burst in goosebumps. For a second, he wished Sanji would've actually sung. Properly sung. But he guessed he didn't need him to for the song to be breathtaking. He guessed he didn't actually need Sanji to try too hard when his eyes conveyed what his halted melody didn't, despite the joking atmosphere the blonde was trying to set.

By the time Sanji was done, Zoro knew he was staring. Had been for a while, and his smile was now faint and his eye full of a weird emotion he couldn't name, an emotion that hammered his heart warmly but insistently, because that song had managed to put into words what Sanji didn't know how to no matter how much he babbled and gesticulated about it. It was the essence of Sanji's dream, laid bare in front of him, and Zoro was still wrapping his head around the fact that Sanji had shared it so intimately.

Sanji was smiling at him, embarrassedly but waiting for a reaction. He knew not everybody was as easily moved as him when they heard that song or those stories. Most of the people he knew and almost everyone he didn't weren't. He knew there weren't that many people who thought the All Blue was that special, no matter how much he tried to pass his excitement on, because sometimes he needed the reassurance of somebody being as excited as him, the reassurance of someone caring to believe _with _him. Luffy was a great listener, and he was always excited. He fully believed in Sanji's dream and was supportive about it. That was one of the reasons he had joined his crew. Talking to him about the All Blue and having Luffy as excited as him and promising him he'd take him there had made his heart soar. He would never be grateful enough.

But the only person who would be as excited as him when (he was always careful to formulate it as _when_ and not _if_) he found the All Blue was back at the Baratie, far away from him. And sometimes he felt he needed the presence of someone who wouldn't only be happy for him but also _with_ him when that happened.

And yet, he had learnt to not expect excited reactions. He was fine with someone listening and looking interested, but he never actually expected them to jump on board with him and push the conversation or be moved with him. But he guessed he still hoped for that understanding, and it showed in the way he stared at Zoro after sharing all of that with him.

Which he still didn't know why he had done that. It had just come out. It had been in his head for days, ever since he had found that fish, and he'd been shutting up more than he'd been talking, despite having talked _a lot_ with Luffy about the topic, so he guessed he had just needed to voice it out loud. And once he started he was difficult to stop with how enthusiastic he got, and Zoro had been such an unbelievably great listener Sanji had just completely let go and gone with everything that came to mind with little restrictions.

"Rings a bell?" he prompted.

Zoro had a strange look in his face and he seemed to have forgotten what words were, but Sanji needed words right now. When Sanji spoke, Zoro blinked at him and ended up drawing a small smile.

"The melody does, yes. I've heard it before. Had never paid attention to the lyrics, though."

Sanji furrowed his brows, annoyed. "Then why didn't you say anything before?"

"Wanted to hear the lyrics," Zoro answered rather flatly, knowing he was being a bit of a little shit.

"You could've told me and then I wouldn't have needed to keep on singing," Sanji groaned, glaring at him for good measure.

"What fun would that have been?"

"Asshole."

"But you were right."

Sanji lifted his eyes and fixed them back on Zoro.

"About?"

"The lyrics. They are…" Zoro tried to find a word to describe them as he scratched his head, but all of those types of emotional and deep adjectives were foreign to his lips because he never said them and he wasn't about to start now. He had never known his way around words. He changed tactics. "I guess I get why they made you so emotional back then."

When he raised his head he found Sanji blinking at him, several times, a weird and _intense_, maybe even shocked, spark in his eyes. It was gone with the fifth blink, before Zoro had time to understand what it meant, as Sanji visibly composed himself and went for a teasing smirk to cover his previous expression up.

"My, my, turns out the great Roronoa Zoro is a softie."

Zoro automatically felt pissed off.

"Shut your trap, you _cried_ with it."

"I was a _child_."

"Fuck off."

But Sanji was grinning like the little shit he was and Zoro felt his chest clench tightly. _That_ crinkle by his nose…

They argued for a while, more of a banter than an actual argument since both of them were smirking at their own little victories more than they got mad at the other's taunts, then they fell silent, comfortable again. The alcohol was gone and they were a bit tipsy, but they were certainly not drunk or alienated. It was just a pleasant buzz running around their stomachs and cushioning their brains now. And a permanent knot in Zoro's chest, despite the peaceful atmosphere, but that had nothing to do with the alcohol.

"Uhm… Zoro."

Zoro stared back at Sanji without answering. Sanji sounded serious. Careful. He could tell he had been thinking for a while, probably about the All Blue. His mind was hardly dragged away from that topic when he started on it.

When Sanji realized Zoro was listening, he looked ahead again and pressed his lips together before talking.

"Do you think it exists?"

Zoro stared at him, taken aback by how earnest that question was. No matter who he was talking to, Sanji never asked that. He hadn't heard him ask once. He had never thought it mattered to him; who believed in it and who didn't.

"The All Blue," Sanji clarified when Zoro didn't answer, his fingers fidgeting with each other.

The thought hit Zoro that Sanji's dream was so _fragile_, yet Sanji's faith was so obstinate. Enough to carry his dream alone. Not only his, but also his nakamas'. The image of Sanji standing between him and Kuma struck him like lightning. He had been about to let himself die so that Zoro could achieve his own dream. Without a second thought. He had been protecting Zoro's dream with all of his might while giving up on his own. He would protect any of his nakamas' dreams with his life because he knew first-hand how easily they could slip away from one's fingers. Sanji, more than anyone, understood the importance of cradling dreams and fighting for them; he, who had nothing tangible to fight for but didn't mind being called a fool if it meant he could push his own belief forward.

Sanji gave the concept of a dream a whole different meaning despite how much his was at stake.

It had never occurred to Zoro that Sanji _might_ need reassurance.

But Zoro was there, holding his dream _with him_, before he had time to think about it.

"Yes."

There wasn't a hint of doubt in his voice. Nor in his stare as he made it a point to fix it in Sanji's blue one to make his answer reach shore.

He wanted to say more, wanted to tell him he'd find it and that it would be alright, but he rarely managed words the way he wanted to and he often had trouble expressing his thoughts and emotions out loud, so he didn't say anything more, hoping his answer was enough.

And Sanji suddenly beamed at him, so bright and honest and childish and _hopeful and happy _Zoro thought he might get blinded. There was something tugging at his chest, something insistent and intense and confusing that had him not knowing what to do about it, but it flooded him all at once at the sight and he could do nothing but stare at Sanji's face, which was overwhelmed with joy.

And Zoro, too, was overwhelmed. It's just that he didn't know _what_ was overwhelming him; he didn't have a name for it nor did he recognize it, and for a second he panicked at how powerful and intimidating it was.

But then Sanji was crouching in front of him with his grin still threatening to break his face, pushing Zoro's legs so that they'd be straight in front of him instead of crossed, and next thing he knew, Sanji had sat on his lap and straddled him, circling his broad shoulders with his arms and planting a smacking kiss against his lips. Sanji was practically vibrating with happiness, because this was about his dream, and it was oh so important to him that other people acknowledged it too and he was so happy that _Zoro_ had, not _for_ him but _with_ him… and Zoro's bewilderment went away.

His arms shot up to squeeze Sanji between them without him registering what he was doing until Sanji's lips were on him again and Zoro had his body pressed so close to him he realized he was hugging the blonde and Sanji was letting him do it. That was a hug and there was no getting around it. Zoro was hugging Sanji for dear life, and he was hugging him _hard_ as the blonde licked and kissed his lips, because there was something overflowing in his chest that was threatening to leave him breathless and he didn't know what to do with himself other than to keep Sanji close.

There was urgency and joy and utter gratitude in the way Sanji kissed him, and Zoro couldn't even begin to wrap his head around _how_ important it was for Sanji that Zoro had humored that conversation at all, that being as stoic as he usually was he had still asked and gotten involved with an interested smile, that he hadn't held a single doubt regarding All Blue's existence when he had answered Sanji's last question, a question he _never_ asked. That he had listened and been there for him, despite it being _Zoro_. Or maybe precisely _because_ it was Zoro.

Zoro hugged him tighter, a bit desperate inside because he truly didn't know what was going on with his heart and Sanji was nowhere near close enough.

Sanji was becoming insistent and Zoro was letting him dominate the kiss for the lack of wits to reverse the control he had at the moment, and Sanji was fire and Zoro couldn't breathe, because that wasn't how they usually kissed, and there was only so much that could be blamed on alcohol when they were merely tipsy and completely aware of what they were doing.

Sanji was then kissing his jaw and his neck, and biting his ear and not feeling like he was fast or intense enough because he _needed_ more and he didn't have a way to express to Zoro how fucking grateful he was that he had let that long and unplanned conversation happen for what had to be a good two hours without showing a single sing of boredom, supporting Sanji's dream with everything he had despite using few words to express it. He went back to his mouth, urgently, and Zoro was already waiting with his breath ragged, and Sanji _knew_ Zoro was hugging him tight, but he couldn't bring himself to care as he also wrapped his arms tighter around Zoro's neck.

Zoro groaned when Sanji dragged his hips down on him, and for a second there he thought he might possibly crush Sanji's ribs if he held on any tighter. Sanji set a pace and Zoro responded. It was urgent but it wasn't rushed. It was more intense and passionate than it was exclusively lustful, and there was a languid feel to the way their hips moved against each other, hardening lengths rubbing together through fabric and making them hiss in each other's mouths.

The rhythm went from fast to slower and harder, their movements fluid and stuttering at times, when they had to pause to restrain a moan or to _breathe_, because they sure as hell weren't giving each other a chance with how they kept their lips and tongues together. One of those times, Sanji went back to kissing Zoro's jaw and neck, making him groan.

Zoro completely lost it the moment Sanji's lips dragged across his cheek to his cheekbone and met Zoro's scar above his eye. Sanji kissed across his permanently shut eyelashes with _something_ that made Zoro's toes curl and his stomach drop in a free fall and his heart _hurt_, his breathing downright stopping on him, and then he was jerking his head back and meeting Sanji's wide eyes with a frantic glint in his own.

"I want to do it," he blurted.

Sanji froze, and all movement between them stopped.

Zoro's heart was in his throat and he had to force himself to loosen the hold he had around Sanji's frame in case the other wanted to go for a strategical retreat, but Sanji wasn't moving, and Zoro was suddenly anxious and nervous, fingers loosening and tightening on Sanji's shirt as he stared at him like a deer caught in headlights.

It was the first time any of them asked. Up until now, it had been obvious when any of them had wanted to, but it had never been voiced out loud, and Zoro was fast to start to curse at himself for breaking that trend, because he needed Sanji _so much_ right now and chances were he had just scared the blonde off.

But, fuck, he wanted to have him. He wanted to have him so much it hurt.

"Okay," Sanji suddenly whispered, staring at him with wide and nervous eyes that Zoro wished he could read better.

And Zoro's eye went wider, because he simply couldn't believe what he had just heard. He was positive his heart had given up on him

"Okay?" he muttered, belatedly shocked that he hadn't stuttered.

Sanji nodded several times, swallowing a tight knot in his throat. "Yes. Yes, I want to."

Zoro stared at him for a few seconds, bewildered, because he was certainly not expecting that to be Sanji's answer, and then he was backpedaling because a certain fear crept at the back of his mind.

"You're not only agreeing in exchange for something, are you?"

The question had been ambiguous, but Sanji understood what was being asked. Zoro was clearly worried that Sanji might be saying yes only because he felt grateful that Zoro had lent him an ear and he wanted to repay him. The assumption pissed him off.

Sanji groaned. "No."

"Are you sure? _Sanji_, I need you to be sure," Zoro insisted, forcing distance in between them so that he wouldn't feel tempted to get carried away before he was certain Sanji wasn't doing this for the wrong reasons.

"It pisses me off when you use my name like that. Do you realize you do it?" Sanji said, arms now loose around Zoro's neck as he glared down at him.

"What?"

Sanji clenched his teeth and decided to drop that particular subject and address the pressing one.

"Zoro, I want to do it. I really do. So if you also want to, I'd recommend you shut your mouth before I change my mind," he stated and then warned.

"Sanji-"

"_I want to_."

Zoro swallowed. "Okay."

"Yes?"

"Yes."

"Are _you_ sure?" Sanji asked a bit more softly, arms tightening a bit around Zoro to put emphasis in his own question.

"Yes."

No trace of doubt there.

Sanji didn't have enough time to close the distance between them, and Zoro's arms grew a mind of their own and wrapped tightly around Sanji the second lips were on his. It didn't last that long this time around. Before Zoro had enough presence of mind to decide he'd take control over the kiss, which he was about to do, Sanji pecked him once, twice, three times, all of them punctuating but firm smacks of lips, until he disentangled himself from Zoro's arms and stood up, leaving Zoro sitting there with his hands twitching by his sides as he made his way towards the piles of discarded training tools the lube was kept under.

When he retrieved it, his hand was shaking, and Sanji stood there, staring at his own limb in surprise, as if he couldn't believe that nervous tick was his.

Then Zoro's hands wrapped around his waist from behind and his mouth was on his neck in a way that meant to tell him it was okay, and he relaxed.

"How do we do this?" Zoro asked in a careful but barely steady tone, his chin propped on Sanji's shoulder for reassurance as he stared down at the bottle Sanji was holding in his hand for the lack of anything else to stare at since he couldn't see Sanji's face from that angle.

Here came the issue.

Zoro waited, patiently but admittedly nervous as Sanji considered it in silence, clutching the bottle as if it was going to spurt an answer.

This time around, Zoro was tempted to offer to bottom. This time around they both wanted it, regardless of who'd be doing what. Zoro came to the conclusion that, this time around, he could put his preferences aside if it was going to make things easier for Sanji. This time around there was no one to convince, they already wanted it. Both of them.

Then Sanji turned to him, eyes suddenly determined.

"I'll bottom."

"_What?!_" Zoro sputtered in what wasn't even a dignified way. Why the fuck had that sounded like a shriek?!

"Unless you want to."

"No! I mean- well, yes, but-"

"No and yes to what?"

Zoro clenched his eye shut, gathering his bearings because _holy shit_ what was this day!

"No to me preferring to bottom. Yes to you bottoming," he managed, hoping not to have sounded like a prick. "If you are honestly okay with that."

"Okay," Sanji nodded, a little bit wary but still resolved. Then he let out a deep exhale to calm himself down and make peace with his choices, trying not to put his raging boner in the equation for that consideration. "Okay," he repeated, more to himself than to Zoro. "Okay, we're doing this."

"Okay," Zoro intelligently agreed.

"But it will go both ways. I'm not always going to be bottom. If we do it again."

"Okay," Zoro repeated, because, seriously, _okay_. He'd be fine with everything Sanji said right now as long as it wasn't 'no' or 'never again'.

"Did you listen to a single thing Nami said when she went through 'the talk'?" Sanji suddenly blurted, increasingly nervous by the moment. He'd had two years' worth of master classes about gay sex, which made him more than acquaintanced with how it worked in _every _aspect (about 90% of the details and personal experiences he had heard were completely unnecessary and he could've lived without them because he sure as hell didn't care about other people's sex life, whatever their preferences were), but Zoro's main source of information had probably only come from Nami, who he wasn't exactly prone to listening to, and that wasn't reassuring.

Nervousness was contagious, it seemed, because Zoro's stomach twisted and made him doubt his own ability in bed or capacity to have sex whatsoever, disregarding his years of experience and the many praises he had gotten in bed. Sanji was a man, he reminded himself. He was playing with different rules here. But that shouldn't undermine what he already knew how to do and was good at doing… right? And, oh, God, _please_ let this go well.

"Uhm, yes."

"Do you know remotely what you are doing?"

"I think so, yes. Maybe."

"Maybe?" Sanji questioned, tone strained and a little bit high.

Zoro stuttered. _Stuttered_. Good God. He pulled himself together and forced himself to formulate a proper answer. "Yes, I mean, theoretically, yes. It's not like I have had the chance to put it into practice. But I think I got the logistics."

Sanji tried to make that answer be enough in his head, but he was in the process of low-key accepting that Zoro didn't have a clue about what hell he was doing. Neither did Sanji.

"Condoms!" he suddenly said, staring at Zoro as if he'd make them appear out of thin air. "We are not doing this without a condom!"

Zoro blinked at him, not processing.

"_Where are the condoms?!_" Sanji pressed, hissing. Which meant: Zoro go to our damn room and bring either your or my condoms because I won't be the one sporting a boner on my way there.

"Oh. Uh. There's a pack where the lube was."

"Why _the hell_ are there condoms in _this_ room?"

"I wasn't the one who put them here," Zoro defended.

"Then who?"

They stared at each other. A certain redhead came to mind and Sanji let his head fall in utter distress because _why_. He couldn't even _pretend_ he wasn't sure it had been her.

"_Jesus Christ_."

"Uh," was Zoro's helpful answer.

"Go get them," Sanji ordered soullessly, walking towards where they had the blankets.

Zoro obeyed, movements mechanic. As he was rummaging through training tools, he felt the need to kick himself in the face because that's _not_ how you go about having sex. That's not how he had pictured it going. Up to date, Zoro had always been rather smooth. They were freaking out now and this was quickly going from heated and passionate to mortifyingly awkward, and Zoro's state of mind wasn't one where he could balance all of those atmosphere swings, much less with a boner making any higher thoughts a challenge.

But then he turned around and his breath caught, and the conversation was forgotten.

Sanji was getting off his clothes, and it wasn't meant to be sensual, rather it was too fast and nervous to be anything close to that, but he was blushing hard and his eyes were dark, and the faint light they kept on while on watch was casting just the right amount of shadows over his toned and lean figure, and light was reflecting on his hair and making it look like gold, and _wow_. Just… _wow_. And Zoro was back to wanting nothing more than to _have him_, mind already set on his objective, and despite his heart racing in his chest, he managed to get a certain amount of control over his body, embarrassment now mask-able.

Sanji was now turning his back to him as he kicked off his pants rather ungracefully out of sheer embarrassment. The blonde didn't want to see Zoro's face until it was absolutely necessary. His hands kept shaking. Fuck, they were _actually_ doing this. His heart climbed up his throat as nervousness completely took over him the moment he discarded his own boxers himself. He didn't want Zoro to undress him; he wanted to maintain some semblance of control when he knew he was going to be giving it to Zoro so soon. The thought scared him.

He jumped a bit when Zoro's arms hugged him from behind right after letting the condoms fall somewhere near on the floor. He startled when Zoro kissed his temple and ran his mouth through his neck, soothingly kissing and licking it as he went, hands roaming over Sanji's tight and naked stomach in an attempt to make him relax.

When Zoro's lips climbed up to his ear, Sanji let out a deep sigh and involuntarily melted against Zoro's arms, and the previous atmosphere fell over them again. Intense and urgent, but also languid. Also careful.

Sanji clenched his teeth and searched his brain for any signs that he truly didn't want to do this before letting Zoro or himself get any more riled up, but he found none aside from a primal fear of giving himself away in a way he had never thought he would. He exhaled and turned around to stare at Zoro in the eye, his own finally back to being determined.

"Okay," he murmured.

"Okay," Zoro echoed, whispering. "Lay down?"

Sanji held his breath for a second but ended up nodding as he let it out, lowering himself to the floor on a small nest of blankets.

"This is going to hurt like a bitch," he grumbled, pretending to be grumpy so that he wouldn't look half as scared as he was feeling.

Zoro couldn't help but chuckle as he kneeled in front of Sanji, finding comfort in the blonde's familiar demeanor when he had said that.

"I've heard people say it feels good," he said in an attempt to make it feel less daunting.

"So have I, but none of the people who told me that deserved an ounce of trust since they all wanted to get into my fucking pants," Sanji grimaced as he remembered a hoard of okamas chasing him across the island while yelling indecent propositions at him.

Zoro fully laughed at that, and Sanji kicked his thigh hard and glared daggers at him because his misery was nothing to be laughed at. Zoro winced, but other than that he simply stared at him with a small smile.

Sanji was still having trouble deciphering what that unusual smile meant when Zoro directed it at him. He wasn't completely sure Zoro knew what he was doing with his face, but it sure as hell made Sanji's stomach drop sometimes.

There were a few seconds of silence and staring and then Zoro was crawling on top of him with sensual ease, lowering his head to kiss him. Sanji allowed it for ten seconds before pushing him back.

"Why am I the only one naked?"

He told himself he wasn't blushing. Zoro was, but he was fast to get up and do a rather clumsy job at taking his clothes off.

"Don't ever become a professional stripper," Sanji told him flatly.

Zoro kicked his ankle. "You weren't exactly graceful yourself, bastard."

Sanji tilted his head provocatively, teasing to mask his nervousness. "Were you staring, Marimo?"

Zoro smirked down at him for the same purpose as he finally got rid of his boxers, trying not to be too self-conscious about it. "Was I?"

Sanji's cock twitched. Zoro saw it and he had to hold his breath for a second to control himself, but then he decided to fuck it and he was back on top of Sanji, arms on either side of his head as his lips crashed with the blonde's.

The kiss started like all of their fights did, but it slowed down and then it was deep and slow as they both tried to earn themselves some time to gather their bearings, and Zoro swore this kind of kisses would eventually ruin his sanity if they became a thing. He felt Sanji's hard-on against his thigh, and it took him a few seconds to decide to get things moving and lower one of his hands to wrap it around it, making Sanji hiss into the kiss.

"Alright?" he asked without processing it.

Zoro realized, a bit too late, that he had never asked that either. Not once, much less for a handjob. Hell, he had practically forced their first handjob on Sanji by being stubborn and hardly giving Sanji a choice (a real dick move, in hindsight, and most definitely not his proudest moment no matter what he had been attempting to achieve back then and what it had ended up bringing to them), and that made Sanji furrow his brows at him.

"Don't you dare go all soft on me now. However this goes I can take it," he reminded him, a bit angry that he had to actually put that into words.

And Zoro got it. Zoro knew Sanji didn't want to be treated like glass, not when he was handing him so much control. But Zoro had no other way to go about it than to be _careful_, because above anything else, he didn't want to fuck this up.

He stroked Sanji a few times, grasping reactions in case one of them told him to stop, but he didn't allow himself to be soft about it either. He had learned the way Sanji liked it, a bit rough, a bit demanding, and he had him panting in a few minutes no matter how much the blonde tried to tone down his obvious arousal. He was still nervous, though; Zoro could tell from the way he was watching his ever movement and tried too hard to keep himself focused instead of letting go.

Zoro bit his lower lip, trying to figure out how to make this better, and he ended up leaning in and kissing Sanji again, forcing his head back onto the blankets and filling his mouth with his tongue so that there was something else in his head other than apprehension.

"Relax," he told him when they parted, watching Sanji's face for anything telling him he didn't want this.

Sanji glared at him a bit, but he was mainly flushed and dealing with labored breathing by now as Zoro's hand kept to work. They stared at each other's eyes, and then Sanji was scrunching his after a particularly talented twist of Zoro's wrist.

"Zoro-" he groaned as his hands flew towards Zoro's one in order to make it stop.

It wouldn't do if he came before anything actually happened.

Zoro waited.

"Get the lube," Sanji told him, strained, after he had pulled himself together with messy results. His voice came out a little bit broken, both with arousal and profound anxiety.

Zoro picked up on the last part, and he went very still, doubting.

"Sanji, if you don't want to-"

"_Oh my God_, Zoro, get the goddamn lube."

Zoro scrambled to do what he was told, a tight knot at the base of his stomach that was a mix of nervousness and want.

When he came back to Sanji, the blonde was turning around on his stomach.

"What are you doing?" Zoro asked, voice low and confused and alarmed and completely _not_ in place because _what the fuck_, he wasn't going to be able to control himself if Sanji went on all fours, he would totally and irremediably _lose it_ and try to fuck Sanji into oblivion and that was hardly the smartest thing to do when he didn't have a clue how to make this work, he kept repeating himself like a mantra.

"What I'm supposed to do," Sanji grumbled. Zoro couldn't see his face, but the tips of his ears were red.

Zoro flailed inside, feeling like his breathing system was failing him big time as he tried to keep in touch with his most reasonable side, which was planning to go on vacation.

"No."

It took a few seconds and Sanji looking back at him with a slightly pissed-off expression for Zoro to realize it had been him talking. His stomach dropped, but his determination grew.

"No, no, _no_," he repeated stubbornly, dragging his knees across the floor until his hand grabbed at Sanji's knee and pulled at it so that Sanji lost his balance and fell flat on his stomach with a grunt.

Sanji started to protest and kick around, but Zoro tuned it down and forced him to flip around so that he'd be laying on his back again. When Sanji kept struggling, Zoro heavily sat down on him and kept him in place.

"Zoro, _what the fuck_."

"Listen to me," Zoro told him, tone as even as he could make it come out. His hand grabbed at Sanji's jaw and he forced the blonde to look at him. "Look, at least this time around I need to be able to see your face. I don't know what the hell I am doing and if the only way I have of knowing how it's going is by staring at your back then I won't know at all," he admitted, embarrassed and a bit anxious, because to him that wasn't treating Sanji like glass but with _respect_, but he didn't know if Sanji would think the same, and he could very well be insulting him according to Sanji's books.

Sanji glared so hard Zoro assumed he had interpreted it in all the wrong ways.

"I'm not trying to treat you like china, Sanji; I am trying to do things right, so let me," he insisted.

Sanji let out an angry huff as pink tinted his whole face and his neck, and Zoro had serious trouble keeping himself put while seeing that, but Sanji finally stopped struggling and relaxed, closing his eyes in order to calm down and letting out even breaths, hands rubbing his face.

"Okay," he conceded with a murmur. "Okay."

Zoro shut his thoughts down with another kiss, and this time it was bruising, because Zoro was having trouble controlling himself and Sanji needed a distraction.

The blonde physically flinched when he heard the lube bottle's lid being snapped open, but he took it upon himself to deepen the kiss enough to make Zoro dizzy instead of letting the other carry the burden of distracting him further. If he didn't want Zoro to treat him like he couldn't take it, then he had to prove he _could_ take it.

Zoro felt Sanji's boost of confidence against his lips as he coated his fingers with cool lube and Zoro's own confidence dwindled, and now it was Sanji's turn to try to calm him down, because Zoro swore he was going to lose his marbles by the end of this endeavor as he replayed Nami's instructions in his head in an attempt to do things right. Sanji seemed to sense it, because his hands flew to Zoro's hair and ran through it repeatedly, soothing, and Zoro groaned against the kiss because Sanji was trying to make _him_ feel better and gathering all of his confidence back for both of them just like Zoro had done a few seconds before, roles reversing, so that Zoro wouldn't freak out, and Zoro's chest did something stupid at the thought.

Zoro's hands weren't steady, he realized as he bought himself time by warming up the lube.

Sanji's lips parted from his and flew to his jaw, and then his eyelid, and then his ear, and Zoro's concentration staggered.

"I'm not going to break," he told him, voice uneven and giving away the fact that he wasn't half as confident as he was trying to act, but still reassuring.

Zoro swallowed and nodded, and then his fingers brushed Sanji's entrance and they both flinched, and Sanji's arms almost turned into a chokehold around Zoro's neck.

"Sorry," Zoro sputtered, his hand away from _there_ like it had caught fire and his face burning.

"It's fine," Sanji dismissed, evening his breathing and relaxing his hold around Zoro as well as his entire body. "Get that hand down where it's supposed to go, I don't bite," he finally ordered, tone defying and maybe just a tiny bit mocking.

If Sanji's aim had been to get Zoro's brain to work, it went well, because Zoro took a deep breath and tried again.

Sanji forced himself not to flinch, and Zoro forced himself not to pull his hand away once it made contact with Sanji's skin, and they both shuddered out a breath. Sanji kicked him in the ass from his position, urging him to do something else, and Zoro settled for rubbing tentatively.

This was awkward, Sanji thought. And it showed in his face, Zoro noticed, but there wasn't anything telling him he wanted him to stop yet, so after a while he attempted to put a finger in. Sanji clenched his jaw at the intrusion, but otherwise didn't make a sound, which encouraged Zoro to push deeper until it was completely in.

Zoro tried to ignore the infinite tightness around his digit, tried not to imagine how it would feel once he was inside because he needed to keep himself in check now or he wouldn't later.

"Alright?"

There he was, asking again.

Sanji made an effort to open his eyes and glared at him, trying to get his mind away from the fact that he had someone else's finger stuck up his ass. What was his life and how had he even gotten there?

"Yes," he snapped, tense. "It's weird as fuck, but it doesn't hurt."

Weird as fuck was the understatement of the century, he thought, but he decided not to make it harder on Zoro, who looked just as awkward and unsure as Sanji was feeling.

"It doesn't hurt," he repeated when Zoro did nothing but stare with uncertainty.

Sanji was about to growl something else at him when Zoro wiggled his finger and the blonde was forced to restrain a gasp at the sensation, his ass retreating instinctively, but Zoro pressed his hips to the ground and steadied him, working his finger in and out and watching Sanji for reactions that this was possibly not going well. Once he determined there weren't, there was nothing gentle anymore about the way he touched him, and Sanji was starting to feel really hot, because it kind of felt good depending on how Zoro angled his insistent and now very present and intent finger, but it was also still plain _weird_.

He added a second finger after a small warning, and Sanji had to suck in a breath because now it _was_ uncomfortable. Zoro was kissing his neck and ear, and then his lips a second later, and it was better, but it was hardly a distraction.

Zoro was back to being careful, as he was with every single change before he made sure it was alright.

"Does it hurt?"

Sanji shook his head, his breathing heavy against Zoro's cheek.

It didn't _hurt_. It was uncomfortable and there was more of a problem with how something inside of Sanji's chest felt utterly vulnerable the more Zoro's fingers moved inside him than because of the physical discomfort they were creating. Sanji's only way to fight it was to fully cover his face with his hands, because that's where his pride stepped in and started giving him shit about what he was doing, and Sanji was smart enough as to not let that happen, but he was also falling into an anxious fit and he didn't know how to calm himself down, because this kind of ashamed self-consciousness is admittedly hard to fight.

"Sanji, _Sanji_. Sanji, I need to see your face. Let me see it," Zoro murmured with his lips brushing Sanji's knuckles as he talked, but Sanji ignored what he had just said, too embarrassed to obey.

Zoro restrained a groan. He knew this would happen. Sanji should've had a proper talk with his pillow about coming to terms with having sex with a man before any of this happened, because there was a difference between fooling around with Zoro the way they had until now and having Zoro fuck him, and Zoro could only hope _that_ particular crisis wasn't going to happen right now, because Zoro sure as hell was having trouble in the restraint department right now and he was completely lacking in the emotional support one as a general fact.

"Want me to pull them out?" Zoro whispered, his tone a bit afraid, because he didn't know how fragile Sanji's ego was right now or how much this was playing with his confidence, which he was bad at handling.

But Sanji was shaking his head emphatically, hands still covering his face, before Zoro finished the question.

Zoro bit his lip. He knew this wasn't a physical issue. This was about Sanji having serious trouble coming to terms with what was going on and with letting himself feel this goddamn vulnerable in front of his rival. It wasn't even about bottoming, it was about him letting himself lose control, which was fucking scary, and Zoro could completely relate to that and sympathize. Sadly, he didn't know how to deal with this.

"_Move_," Sanji groaned, his tone fairly steady despite the mortification visible under his hands.

"If this is too much-"

"It's not too much, I'm just trying to get my head around the fact that your fingers are stuck in my ass, this is _not_ a fucking crisis, I'm just trying to adjust. Mentally," Sanji growled, exasperated, letting his hands drag away from his face so that he could properly glare at Zoro.

Okay, so this wasn't, as Zoro had feared, the dreaded crisis. Thank God. Zoro wasn't equipped to deal with that. But he could read Sanji's mood better now that he could see his face, and what Sanji needed right now was for Zoro to stop asking questions and _acting_ and stopping giving Sanji breaks to overthink too much.

Zoro grew resolute and Sanji yelped in surprise when he dragged his body back and his face sank on Sanji's length, taking it into his mouth the moment he started experimentally moving his fingers inside the blonde.

Sanji kicked the floor once and his hands flew to Zoro's hair in an attempt to get a grip, but Zoro was being insistent both with his mouth and his fingers, and Sanji had trouble reconciling the awkward and rather uncomfortable sensation of two fingers sliding in an out of a space that was surely too tight for that and the feeling Zoro's fantastic mouth on him.

Sanji groaned and Zoro took a second to check if it was the painful kind of groan, but he decided it sounded more like a frustrated one, which was fine with him.

He started trying different things inside of Sanji, looking for a spot he was supposed to find but not having a clue where to find it. Since he couldn't look, he listened to whatever sounds Sanji let out to learn what felt good and what didn't. Two or three minutes into fingering him (and after having slowed down on his length so that it was merely a distraction and not entirely overwhelming), Zoro had figured out which movements made Sanji actually feel good and not only tolerate them, having already crossed out the ones that made him plainly uncomfortable or may hurt.

Sanji decided he was _screwed_. Zoro liked to excel in whatever he did, and the bastard's concentration when he was doing something new he wanted to get the handle of was absolutely unwavering and rather scary when you were on its receiving end. Sanji had had the bad luck (or great luck depending on how he looked at it) of finding out through Zoro's blowjobs. It didn't escape him that every single time he went down on him, Zoro wasn't only trying to make him enjoy it or doing it well, but was also fucking _studying_ and committing new knowledge to his memory to be used later on. It hadn't taken him more than two or three blowjobs to be able to give decidedly _good_ head, and after that he had just become a _pro_ and Sanji's sanity had been fucked forever because he could hardly think anymore when Zoro's mouth was on him, which didn't sit well with his ego.

And Zoro was doing that now. Sanji could tell Zoro was already learning and getting better each minute that passed despite some clumsy attempts and the overall awkward feeling of it all, but the thing is that Zoro had never done it and he was _already_ managing to make Sanji feel good. To the point where Sanji was becoming restless and a bit of a mess, because he couldn't quite decide if the way Zoro's fingers moved in and out of him -and God he was starting to get the handle of scissoring him now, _what the fuck_\- felt good or simply weird. Whatever it was, and however uncomfortable it still was, the repeated friction was doing _something_ to him, and there had come a point where his hips couldn't decide if they wanted to thrust up into Zoro's mouth or down on his fingers.

Fuck.

And then Zoro touched _something_ and Sanji outright cried out, suddenly kicking around and desperately trying to get Zoro away from him with flailing hands and wide eyes, and Zoro ripped himself away from Sanji, suddenly scared that he had fucked up and hurt him, and that was a fucking dumb mistake, because yanking his fingers out like that _did_ hurt like a bitch, and Sanji yelped, and next thing Sanji knew he was curling over himself and hissing in pain as he tried to find his breath and pretend the waves of extreme pleasure weren't still running through his system at the same time.

_Fuck._

Zoro stared at him with his eye wide and frankly afraid, hands hovering over him, because he simply didn't know what had just happened. Sanji's body was trembling and his face was hidden. He wanted to ask if he was okay, but Sanji would kick him if he did that.

"Fuck, don't fucking do that again," Sanji growled, voice a bit broken after the sound he had just let out.

"Do what?" Zoro asked weakly, because he needed to know exactly what had gone wrong so as not to repeat the mistake.

Sanji groaned, and he sounded pissed off. "Pull your fingers out like that. It fucking hurt."

Zoro blinked at him, confused, because he had pulled his fingers out _after_ Sanji's unexpected scream, and Sanji had grown desperate and panicky before that.

"Okay," he muttered, studying Sanji's curled form and trying to restrain the urge to apologize. "Did I hurt you before that?"

Sanji went all shades of red, but he grew completely silent. Zoro furrowed his brows.

"Sanji, I'll need you to answer to that if you don't want me to fuck up again."

"…didn't hurt," Sanji mumbled, tone embarrassed and not meeting his eye.

"Uh…?"

Sanji groaned again. Mortified.

"You did nothing wrong," he forced himself to reassure the swordsman, who was growing restless. "You… uhm… I actually think you found it."

Zoro swore Sanji couldn't get redder than this. He was contemplating various shades of red and mentally comparing them to the blonde's face when Sanji's words suddenly hit him and he understood them for what they were.

And suddenly there was excitement and raw want bubbling up inside of him because, _yes_, he could manage to make this work.

"No kicking," he hurriedly ordered before sinking down on Sanji again and engulfing his length.

It gave him the few shocked and distracted seconds he needed to put his fingers back in, and then Sanji was jumping at the sensation of being filled again, but Zoro was a foresighted man and he was already holding his hips down, becoming dominating in the blink of an eye because he now knew he had this.

His fingers weren't gentle as he moved them around, pressing, in an attempt to find it back, and Sanji was squirming in his touch because that alone was making him restless and helpless again. It was such a weird feeling… not outright good and not completely painful, but kind of addicting in a way.

And then he found it, actually felt it against his fingertips this time, and Sanji had to restrain a shout so as to not embarrass himself further. Sanji kicked the floor instead of Zoro, and hit it with more and more strength and desperation the more Zoro insisted against the bundle of nerves, and he was trying to push him back but Zoro wasn't moving at all, and there came a point where Sanji choked because he wasn't even _breathing_ at how much he was feeling at once.

It was too much.

So he sent Zoro's order to shit and actually kicked him where he reached with vice, forcing him to stop. Zoro had the mind not to suddenly pull out this time, though, which Sanji greatly appreciated as he concentrated on calming his vibrating body down and getting oxygen back in his lungs.

Zoro was watching him intently, studying his expressions and attaching meanings to them so that they could guide him in the future without him having to wonder what they meant or having to ask.

"Too much?" he concluded.

Sanji gathered himself enough to raise his head and glare at him. "By a fucking mile. Learn to control yourself, bastard."

"Okay, got it."

Sanji didn't like the way Zoro was taking this like a master class on How To Make Sanji Feel Good. It would end up being Sanji's doom, he already knew it.

He frowned harder when he felt Zoro wiggle his fingers inside him, teasing, playful, and he swore there was a smirk playing with his lips.

"I _will_ kick," he threatened.

Zoro pressed right where he had found Sanji's weak spot with a triumphant grin, and Sanji both moaned and kicked, earning a grunt from the swordsman, who should know how to pick his fights better by now. The moan had been worth it, though. He hardly got to hear Sanji unrestrained like that and, well, _fuck_.

He kissed Sanji's curses away, half smiling and half concentrating on keeping himself in check, and Sanji melted into his touch when Zoro began moving again, less insistent this time, and more set on stretching and brushing edges than on making Sanji lose it. Although Sanji was beginning to lose it all the same, because those there-but-not grazes and the whole friction of Zoro pushing in an out did things to him and he could barely focus, still lost in the borders between pleasurable and uncomfortable, but never unwelcome.

When Zoro added a third finger, Sanji winced and hissed, and this time Zoro had a considerable amount of trouble fitting them all in without hurting him, murmuring at his lips to relax and carefully prodding every now and then as his other hand worked on Sanji's length, and then they were finally in. Zoro was back to being careful, Sanji noted to himself.

He was about to tell him not to, but then Zoro was moving again and Sanji was scrunching his nose at the ache, instinctively squirming to get away, which Zoro didn't let him do by planting a firm hand against his hips.

And then Sanji realized Zoro wasn't being soft nor treating him like china. There was a difference between Zoro being _careful_ and taking the time to do things right and Zoro thinking Sanji couldn't take it, which Sanji now realized the swordsman had probably never thought at all. The realization hit him like a wave of relief.

Zoro kissed his ear and Sanji started to relax, opening to him and trying to keep the uncomfortable feeling away from his mind and his face, which Zoro was attentively watching.

Zoro was starting to get the hang of it, and Sanji was beginning to realize it wasn't as horrible as he had always assumed sticking something up your ass would be. Maybe it was just Zoro doing the right things. His face was still burning hot and he still had trouble not falling prey to mortification, but Zoro kept him distracted at all times, keeping any crisis at bay, showering him with kisses and bites and licks and coming back to his length every now and then to make things better, and the fact that he was being thorough but still careful down there probably played a huge role in making Sanji melt and slowly drop his mask and embarrassment. The sounds he was letting out, breathless and needier by the moment, proved it.

Zoro was having trouble restraining himself because _God_, what a sight. Sanji had stopped curling on himself or trying to avoid his gaze or make his body small. He was now fully spread in front of him, legs open and torso flushed up to his face, shining with sweat, and there was only an arm covering half of his face as the other laid above his head, twisting sheets in a restless and helpless manner, and fuck, _those eyes_. Those expressions, more and more unguarded by the second… Those sounds.

He didn't think Sanji realized how he looked or what he did to him.

"Sanji…" he breathed, feeling helpless himself and not really knowing what thought had been meant to be attached to his name leaving his lips.

Sanji stared at him with half-lidded eyes, breathing hard and letting out soft noises with each breath, and Zoro's self-restraint had surely seen better days.

_Fuck._

His fingers brushed that bundle of nerves again and this time Sanji's hips jerked and a moan ripped through his throat, loud but languid and dragged, without being filtered at all, and _fuck_, Zoro lost his composure altogether.

"Sanji, _Sanji_, I need to fuck you," Zoro choked out, crawling over him after having retrieved his fingers with endless care. He cradled the blonde's face in his hands, something about the gesture undeniably _begging_, and he kissed his lips repeatedly, trying to coax a yes out of them because he sure as hell couldn't bring himself to have any kind of control over his urges right now.

He felt Sanji fighting for air under him, still overwhelmed by Zoro's last touch but trying to connect a few brain cells to focus on what Zoro was saying.

"Sanji, Sanji, _please_, let me have you," he whispered against his lips, sounding breathless and desperate. Fuck, he didn't even have a filter anymore. _Have you_. If he hadn't been as needy or desperate he may have given a fuck.

Sanji groaned against his mouth, but Zoro kept their foreheads together and Sanji's face in his hands, kissing him again and again and not letting Sanji put his thoughts in order.

"Don't beg," Sanji ended up telling him as Zoro dragged his lips over his, and his voice came out hoarse.

And Zoro's heart did a full stop and his hands clutched Sanji's face too tight, his forehead stuck to Sanji's as he shut his eyes and tried to calm down the pain in his chest. What a stupidly _Sanji_ thing to say. Telling him not to beg, like he always did because he couldn't stand Zoro doing or saying things that could potentially taint his pride, protecting it for him, despite knowing that Sanji could've taken every time he begged as a victory in their endless banter. He couldn't understand why those little gestures formed a lump at the back of his throat or sent his heart in a frenzy, but it took Sanji's own hands taking his face and Sanji kissing him senseless for him to focus back on what he was doing instead of drowning in that overwhelming feeling washing over him.

"It's alright," Sanji told him, shaking him a bit, to keep him concentrated on the task at hand.

When Zoro was collected enough to stare back at him, Sanji bumped their foreheads together, not gently but not roughly either.

"Go grab a condom."

Zoro swallowed and watched as Sanji did too, but he gathered all of his scrambled thoughts and did as he was told.

Once it was on, it was Sanji who coated his length with lube making Zoro's breath stutter, with rather unreasonable amounts by all accounts, making sure nobody half-assed that part of the job since it was his ass that was going to be in pain. He stared at Zoro's dick with wide eyes, having second thoughts as he processed its girth, which he had known from the start but had never contemplated as something that would have to go _inside of his ass_.

Zoro tried to lighten the mood with a weak smile. "Intimidated much?"

Sanji frowned at him. "Hell no. It's not that impressive."

Zoro laughed a bit. "You're such a bad liar. Usopp would be disappointed. Lay back down."

Sanji let himself be pushed back and braced himself as Zoro grew nervous again, smile gone, and kneeled above him. Sanji masked his anxiousness by wrapping his hands around Zoro's nape and forcing him to lower his body towards him.

"Don't treat me like I'm going to break because I won't. Yes?" he reminded him, tone decently confident.

Zoro smiled down at him, and next thing he knew, the tip of his length was poking Sanji's entrance. Sanji made a point to stare at Zoro and not complain as the swordsman started to push in, slowly but steadily, watching the blonde's face for traces of pain. And it was there. It was there as he opened him, but Sanji's glare was more determined than it was scared or pained, and Zoro forced himself to keep going, because Sanji wouldn't forgive him if he acted on the assumption that Sanji needed a break when he wasn't asking for one.

Fuck, Sanji thought. It _did_ hurt.

At some point he scrunched his eyes shut, clenching his jaw and trying to stay silent asides from the harsh breathing coming in and out of him. His nails were sure to leave marks on Zoro's back, but none of them cared that Sanji's lethal grip on him might be painful for the swordsman or draw blood.

Zoro let his forehead fall on Sanji's with a groan but continued pushing. Sanji was too tense. He was clenching too much and Zoro was having trouble 1) not losing himself in that incredibly tight heat and just fuck this and fuck Sanji senseless and 2) _getting into that tight heat to start with_.

"I need you to relax," he growled at the blonde, strained.

Sanji sneered. "You're not the one trying to fit a dick in your ass," he informed him, tone pissed off due to the weird pain he was being hit with. "Easier said than done."

He wasn't complaining, they both knew he wasn't. Sanji had vowed to himself he wouldn't. But his crude sarcasm told Zoro enough, and he had to stop for a second to calm down and think because this was certainly hurting Sanji, and they had known it would, but Zoro would've liked to minimize the pain.

Sanji seemed to realize where Zoro's mind had gone, because he grunted in pain but managed to lightly slap Zoro's cheek from his position, forcing the other's attention on him.

"Oi, it doesn't hurt _that_ much. I've had way worse. _We_'ve had worse. By miles," he told him, cutting his own sentences short to gasp breaths and clench his jaw every now and then, willing the pain away. "I promise it's not that bad," he kept going, trying to get Zoro to cooperate instead of over-worrying and doing _nothing_. "It's just a weird kind of pain. I'm not used to it and it's fucking awkward and it makes it pretty much translucent that you're shoving your dick up my ass and that's just _weird_ but- agh," Sanji winced but composed himself. "But I can totally take it. Fuck, 80% of the fights I've been in hurt a hundred times more than this, so it's no big deal."

Zoro blinked at him, and Sanji thought he might've failed to draw a conclusion himself, the moss head. It pissed him off that he had to spell it out for him.

"_So move_," he growled at him, kicking him in the butt with his heel and immediately regretting it because it strained him where Zoro was half-way in.

What Sanji was saying was true. He had more of a problem with it being a completely unknown and new pain that made him feel vulnerable and fucking _open_ than it hurting as much as he had always pictured it would. It hurt, yes, but he was _so_ used to pain, and by pain he meant excruciating pain since he had actually been through way worse, that his endurance was higher than your average person's. He knew how to handle pain and despite this being new and exposing and hurting, it wasn't something he couldn't take.

While Sanji had been pulling at his wits to put a speech together Zoro had managed to form a plan of action.

By the time Sanji kicked him, Zoro stuttered a bit, but he schooled himself and stared at Sanji, flexing his legs without the blonde really noticing.

"Okay," he conceded, bracing himself. "Sorry."

_For what?_ Sanji wanted to ask. But then Zoro bottomed out and buried himself all the way in in one go before Sanji knew what had hit him, ripping a gasp and a pained groan from his throat, nails decidedly drawing blood at Zoro's back now.

Then they went completely still; Zoro trying to pull himself together and trying to wait and _not come right now_ because, fuck, Sanji was tight, and Sanji trying to blink back tears that never quite made it to his eyes, trying to adjust for dear life because, fuck, Zoro was big and that had fucking hurt like a bitch.

Sanji held his breath for a long while and ended up groaning, banging the back of his head against the floor for good measure in an attempt to relax.

"A warning would've been nice," he accused, voice low-key pained.

"I apologized," Zoro defended, voice equally as strained. "Fuck, you're tight."

"Can you _not_ comment?"

Zoro keened, concentrating and evening his own breathing.

"Right."

"Okay, move," Sanji huffed.

"You're supposed to adjust first."

"I _am_ adjusted."

"You're cutting my blood circulation."

"_Move_."

Zoro drew back a tiny bit, making Sanji hiss, and then went back in, testing the waters. Sanji grunted. Nothing in his face told him this was remotely pleasurable to him, and Zoro began to worry.

"If that was your star move I'll be really disappointed," Sanji announced him.

Zoro scowled at the blonde, taking the challenge for what it was and drawing back almost all of the way before thrusting back in, not necessarily rough but definitely more confident, and Sanji bit his lip, still adjusting but already _knowing_ that was a good move. If Sanji wasn't in pain he may have appreciated it.

The swordsman gave a few more tentative thrusts before Sanji half-relaxed around him and he started moving a bit more freely, setting a pace, slow but firm.

Sanji's hand flew to his face as that familiar itch took over him right after the friction between them became constant and started bugging him in that way that made his skin crawl, masking the pain progressively.

Zoro took his wrist and forced him to lower his arm, staring at Sanji's face and smoothing one of his own hands down Sanji's locks to comfort him. He was being awfully quiet and Zoro was trying to angle his hips in a way that would make him enjoy it, fearing he wasn't at all.

Sanji was breathing through his nose, keeping himself in check, and Zoro caught his breath with a bruising kiss that kept him distracted long enough for Zoro to figure out a good angle. By the time Zoro thrust his hips back forward, Sanji jerked a bit and threw his head back, groaning, because even when he hadn't been spot on, Zoro had grazed _something_.

Zoro stared at him, relieved. "Better?"

Sanji didn't answer, so Zoro tried again, a bit more firmly, and Sanji's hands flew to his biceps for purchase.

"Keep doing that."

Zoro was happy to oblige.

Sanji was a sweaty mess under him, and he was beginning to let out those soft sighs and gasped breaths, and Zoro grounded himself in the reassurance that he was doing something right, ignoring the urge to fuck this all and fuck Sanji senseless like his dick was begging him to. When he realized Sanji was becoming skittish and his breath grew decidedly unsteady, hands trying to grip at anything because that prolonged friction had him not knowing what to do with himself, Zoro leaned forward and ran a hand through his hair again, softly.

This time he caught the curtain of hair Sanji always managed to keep hanging in front of half of his face, and he pushed it backwards with a dragged caress so as to uncover his whole face, which made Sanji flush deeply once he realized he was completely exposed.

His first instinct was to cover his face, but Zoro was a bit forceful as he batted his hands away, keeping his own on Sanji's forehead and swiping his thumb over sweaty brows, getting the sweat drops away from his eyes, which were the brightest blue he had ever seen in Sanji, glossy and slightly unfocused. Beautiful.

He paused and thrusted back in, punctuating the movement with precision, and Sanji gasped, his expression completely visible to him now. It made his stomach drop.

Sanji's hand went to Zoro's forearm in a weak attempt at pulling it away, but he didn't succeed. Zoro had been playing with him for too long now, and his thoughts and will were muddled. Zoro had been _brushing_ all the right places and Sanji was pretty much a mess by now. He felt too hot and overwhelmed, and it was starting to feel _right_. Had started to a while ago.

Zoro was still staring, still keeping his hair out of his face, when he pulled almost completely out and pushed back in in a smooth stabbing motion that had Sanji's body jerking up in the sheets and another guttural sound escaping his lips just as his breath was punched out of his lungs.

Zoro's grip in his hair became painful and Sanji forced himself to look him in the eye with a groan. Zoro was staring at him with so much _hunger_ as he repeated the last motion, driving into him with a powerful thrust, that Sanji completely lost his composure and outright moaned into the room when Zoro went back in. The swordsman clenched his jaw, hand trembling a bit with Sanji's gold locks in it.

"_Fuck_, Sanji," he growled, and the sound that came out of his throat was animalistic.

Sanji lost his patience, desperation kicking him in the face because that wasn't enough.

"Harder," he croaked out, pushing his hips against Zoro and making the other moan, which rang satisfied bells inside of Sanji's head. It was so difficult to make Zoro moan. But Zoro was barely keeping himself together, and Sanji knew it. "I won't break, _I won't break_, so fuck me hard, okay?" he rushed out, hands searching Zoro's face to somehow make him understand he needed it.

And Zoro obeyed, because there was no way he could keep it in anymore when Sanji was this hot mess underneath him and _want _was ripping him apart.

Next thing Sanji knew, Zoro had started a punishing pace, without pauses between thrusts this time, that had Sanji's breath knocked out of his lungs with almost every thrust and his body sliding upwards across the floor by the moment, which Zoro corrected every now and then by pulling him back against him and burying into him without restraint. And Sanji was positively whimpering right now, right in his ear, and Zoro was completely losing it as he rode his desperation out on the blonde.

A yell broke through the room when Zoro grabbed Sanji's legs and forced Sanji to bend over himself (bless his flexibility), which allowed him the angle to accidentally hit Sanji's prostate. Sanji broke down into fits of moans and 'fuck' as Zoro took the hint and started slamming there with abandon, bending Sanji further to reach his mouth only to find Sanji's hands already reaching for him and his mouth attacking him with teeth and tongue, an absolute mess that could hardly be called a kiss but still wasn't enough as to convey how fucking _good_ this felt.

"Zoro, Zoro, Zoro, fuck, Zoro, fuck, _right there_, harder, _harder_, oh _my God, Zoro_…" Sanji kept chanting against his lips like a prayer, and Zoro wasn't sure he could go harder at all because he was already going all out, but Sanji's hips were responding (as expected, Sanji was hardly the passive type so he was certainly going to collaborate) and it felt so fucking amazing, and he wasn't one to back down from a challenge, so he tried.

Zoro felt his stomach tense, and he knew he was close, and fuck, he needed Sanji to be close too because he could hardly keep this up any longer. But then Sanji grew desperate too, and Zoro was pretty sure he earned himself a scratch in the cheek as Sanji's hands started flailing around his face, which he had been grabbing, trying to get him closer but not really knowing what to do with himself, his voice growing louder and more shameless and resounding straight through Zoro's dick.

Fuck.

Sanji was so hard to keep up with.

The thought only ignited Zoro even more.

Next thing he knew, they were rushing things and Sanji was doing some jaw-dropping bending to get Zoro to hit right at that spot as Zoro's hand flew to Sanji's length and started erratically pumping it with jerky movements.

"Come on, come on," Zoro encouraged him, voice strained and hushed, but he was also moaning. Had been for a while. "Come for me, come on."

It took a few strokes before Sanji was shouting something intelligible and arching his back, coming all over his stomach, and the way he clenched around Zoro was enough to send him over the edge, his vision failing him as he slammed into Sanji without a rhythm anymore, riding out his orgasm as Sanji's hand joined his distracted one and helped him pump him dry.

Vision still gone and sounds barely there, Zoro fell on Sanji, his weight completely limp, and Sanji let out a choked huff at the sudden tackle, arms coming up and falling uselessly by his sides, all will to kick Zoro away gone in favour of exhaustion and the need to actually come down to his senses.

They were both breathing hard and on each other, chests sticky against each other and Zoro's head nestled by Sanji's neck with his arms sprawled. The swordsman blinked flashes of light away, confused and coughing every now and then when he couldn't take in a breath properly, but he began to calm down as Sanji's pounding heart counted beats against his ear. Sanji was feeling much too hot and most definitely a bit asphyxiated with Zoro's dead weight thrown on top of him without him moving, but he was feeling too light-headed and weak to do anything about it.

So they rested there, evening out their breathing without a rush, minds mostly blank.

At some point, Sanji winced a bit under him, making Zoro lazily raise his head from his shoulder to prop his chin on it instead and look at the blonde's face, which he still couldn't completely make out given the angle. Sanji's stubble tickled his nose.

"Pull out," ordered the cook with a grimace that told Zoro he was starting to notice the cum and sweat drying between them without his previous indifferent outlook.

"Right," he blurted, his brain cells still not properly connecting.

He did it with care, like he always did things with Sanji when they weren't being rough, but Sanji still sneered in discomfort, which had Zoro smoothing his hair again and kissing his temple without thinking. He then let himself fall by Sanji's side, still close to him, one of his legs tangling with Sanji's.

"You okay?" he asked after a while when he was capable of forming thoughts, voice hushed and eyes scanning Sanji's profile.

If he had sounded worried it's because he was starting to feel worried. It was slowly dawning on him that he hadn't ended up restraining himself, that he had gone all out on Sanji when he had initially planned to keep things more or less controlled. He knew Sanji could take it, didn't doubt it, but there was also the rational apprehension that the fact that Sanji hadn't been too fond of the idea of bottoming brought to the surface. He was pretty sure Sanji had liked it, but then again, there was a difference between Sanji's body liking it and his mind stomaching the way he had reacted to it, which hadn't been controlled at all. Chances weren't slim that once Sanji's brain caught up with him he would backpedal in shame.

Sanji blinked his eyes open, half in a daze, and turned his head to the side to regard Zoro.

"Ask me tomorrow. Let's see how my ass takes it."

He said it with such a deadpan face that Zoro had to restrain a laugh.

"And now? I mean, was it good?"

Zoro was sounding pretty relaxed for how much he was worrying about the answer. He guessed he was too tired to be showing any emotions, which suited him just fine.

Sanji searched Zoro's face, quiet for a while.

"You made it good, I guess," he admitted.

Zoro did _not_ blush. His heart did _not_ jump at his throat.

Sanji was already laughing at him, but the streak of laughter was cut short as something in his stomach strained and he grimaced. Zoro patted his abdomen in an attempt to comfort him.

"Back to your bed," Sanji ordered after a few minutes of silence, voice low and sleepy because they were both utterly worn out.

Zoro frowned at him.

"I don't have a bed here."

"There's plenty of space around us where you could make one," Sanji informed him flatly.

That was another thing about Sanji. Ever since they had started fooling around, be in the crow's nest or in a hotel room, Sanji had never let him sleep with him. He always kicked him out, put some firm distance between them after it was over. Zoro had never liked that part much. When he was done he liked to stay in one place and steal warmth from someone, not find a new place to sleep in, much less after having fucked someone so thoroughly.

Yet, Zoro had always gone with it, figuring it was one of Sanji's limits.

It may have been sleep taking a toll on him, or maybe that weird feeling he had nestled in his chest all night long, but Zoro chose that moment to enter a rebellious phase.

"I think I'll stay here."

"_Why_."

"Try kicking me out if you don't like it."

Sanji groaned. Zoro knew he couldn't kick him out at the moment. His lower body was currently useless and his brain wasn't the brightest it had ever been. He attempted to push him away, but Zoro didn't even budge, the bastard.

"Why are you so annoying?" Sanji lamented, although he lacked his usual edge. "You're a living furnace and I am hot enough as I am."

"In what sense?" Zoro teased.

Sanji glared at him. "In all senses."

"Humble."

"Go away!" Sanji barked at him, which had Zoro snorting. Sanji wasn't putting much effort in achieving that asides from his constant complaining, which Zoro thought meant he wasn't all that bothered by it at the moment.

"I'm too tired to move and you're too tired to kick me, so why don't you just accept your fate and shut that foul mouth of yours?"

"Make me."

Zoro went through the effort of holding his weight on an elbow and kissing him hard with a smirk still imprinted in his lips. Sanji bit his lip and Zoro flinched away from him, but he found Sanji smirking back, lazily but pleased. Zoro ran his tongue over his lower lip, checking for blood, but Sanji hadn't bitten that hard. It had been… playful.

Zoro studied his smug face for a second before deciding that Sanji didn't really care, at least not now, and he let himself slump half on top of him with his arm across his chest and his leg still tangled with Sanji's.

Sanji protested extensively, but no other attempts at getting him off him came his way, so Zoro relaxed, incredibly happy with his luck, because tonight Sanji was being unbelievably lenient. It may have something to do with them continuously breaking walls and limits between them and slowly getting used to it. Or it may have to do with Sanji being so utterly well fucked he didn't have it in him to kick him away. Zoro was fine with both. He got to stay either way.

"Never took you for a cuddler," Sanji commented once they had settled and there was only silence around them again.

Zoro blinked a few times, face half buried against Sanji's shoulder. He peeked at him from where he was, and Sanji was staring at the ceiling, apparently content and at peace. He didn't look like he was regretting stuff at least.

"I'm not," he tried.

"Try defending that when you're not wrapped around me like a koala."

Zoro scowled, awfully embarrassed, but he didn't pull away.

Sanji had all the right in the world to be surprised. Nothing about Zoro's attitude suggested he'd like to snuggle in his sleep. If anything it invited people away. He'd surprised previous partners by clinging to them in their sleep, something none of them had been expecting of him. But the truth is, he _did _snuggle, which was the counterpart of him being cold and collected all the time. When night fell and there was no one there to judge him but a few nameless sex partners he'd never see again, or his pillow (he had woken up cuddling his pillow often enough to sleep without it some nights so that his nakama wouldn't wake up to him doing that, his image ruined), Zoro let go. He hardly let his guard down, but he did indulge in what his body demanded, which was some kind of form in between his arms, preferably full of body heat, since he made it a goal to keep it away during the rest of the day and Zoro was only human and also craved it. The fact that he pushed contact away when he was in control made him want it when he was tired and sleepy, absolute control diminished and human cracks appearing through him.

Zoro was pretty aware that, right now, not only was he indulging his urges, but was also letting his guard completely down, which he never added to the equation if he could avoid it. It didn't alarm him much. It was Sanji. Sanji, who was letting him cuddle him. Sanji, who had let him have him and had let himself feel vulnerable for Zoro. Sanji, his rival and nakama. His… his what?

He was staring at Sanji in deep thought as his mind started reeling and that overwhelming feeling made a home out of his chest again. His grip unconsciously tightened around Sanji, and he was back at not knowing what to do with himself, despite the tiredness and need to pass out.

Sanji felt him get closer and he let out a sigh, turning on his side so that he was facing Zoro and letting the swordsman adjust to the new position, foreheads bumping.

Zoro wasn't the only one indulging his cuddling urges, it seemed. Sanji was indulging them for him too, and Zoro's heart clenched the moment one of Sanji's arms came to rest on his side, not quite hugging him but making itself present.

"Regretting it?" he asked.

Zoro gaped. "_No_!"

For fuck's sake, no! How had Sanji reached that conclusion? Was Zoro's behavior that out of character that Sanji had started assuming things?

Sanji chuckled a bit, sleepy. Zoro found it adorable. Zoro proceeded to mentally slap himself, panicking at his own derailed train of thought.

"Good," Sanji murmured, closing his eyes and nestling his head on the blankets, inadvertently rubbing his forehead to Zoro's.

Zoro felt something warm in his chest, and he swallowed.

"Are we doing this again?" he found himself whispering, voice a tiny bit strangled despite wanting it to sound casual.

Sanji opened his eyes again, impossibly blue despite the darkness. Zoro's brain staggered.

He felt his heart clench when Sanji let out a breathless laugh that shook Zoro's limbs above him.

"Hell yeah!"

Zoro grinned for the lack of anything better to do with his face.

Sanji was laughing. Sanji had liked it. They were doing this again, as many times as Sanji allowed it, and Zoro got to have Sanji for as many times as Sanji gave him the chance and… what the fuck, he was _happy_. Truly happy, in that way that makes one's chest warm and a smile get plastered in one's face like there's no other expressions available. The kind of happiness that makes one feel giddy and a bit like having been blinded by the sun.

Zoro was getting another chance.

He shouldn't be this pathetically happy, he thought to himself.

He shouldn't be kissing Sanji's head when he finally fell asleep, either.

The thought hit him that they hadn't cleaned up. He did so, and he also cleaned Sanji, and Sanji stirred in his sleep and Zoro murmured quiet reassuring words in his ear until he fell back to sleep in his arms, and Zoro shouldn't have done that.

He shouldn't be letting that baffling and crushing weight in his chest do what he wanted with him.

He shouldn't be drawing patterns on Sanji's skin as he dozed off.

He shouldn't be hugging him closer.

He should not fall asleep with his nose buried in his gold locks.

He definitely shouldn't be feeling his heart soaring.

But it was.

**TBC**

* * *

**A/N: **So. 45 chapters into the fic _that_ happened. Thank you for the patience.

(Also, after the "No" chapter someone suggested this one should be named "Yes". And, well, here you go :) )

Alternative titles:

Zoro is falling _hard_.


End file.
